The government order aimed to prevent uncontrolled and unregulated animal trade at livestock markets by banning the sale of cattle for slaughter nationwide. It was the first such order in India. The sale for slaughter of buffaloes, camels and cows which are considered holy by the Hindus became illegal. But, recently, India’s Supreme Court has suspended that law till government changes and resubmit amendments to the law by the end of August, as this negatively affect the meat and leather industries and hit livelihoods, being are dominated by minority Muslims.
the law had been heavily opposed amd has also been stayed by a lower court in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on 30 May, on ground that it infringed people’s right to choose what they ate, to which apex court held the Madras high court’s interim order, (8 July lapsed) would continue and remained in force across the country.
Cows are considered holy by India’s majority Hindu population but this times buffaloes are also into the list. Slaughtering them is already banned in most but not all states since Bharatiya Janata Party formed India’s federal government in 2014.
The western state of Gujarat passed a law in March making the slaughter of cows punishable with life imprisonment. In some cases, groups have killed Muslim men they suspect of killing cows.
Cow vigilante groups make Prime Minister Narendra Modi angry as killing in the name of cow protection is not acceptable.
All these have still failed to stop attacks against cattle traders.
With annual exports worth $4bn (£3.1bn),Most of India’s beef comes from water buffaloes rather than cows making India largest exporter of beef.
Abdul Faheem Qureshi, the head of the Muslim All India Jamiatul Quresh Action Committee calls the order, a victory.
