Meat ban: J&K HC gives state govt three weeks to file its response

On September 17, the High Court had issued notice to the state government after a PIL was admitted in the court.

The PIL was filed by a retired law professor Afzal Qadri, in which he had challenged the constitutional validity of RPC sections 298-A and 298-B, which regulate the ban on bovine slaughter and beef sale in Jammu and Kashmir. While section 298-A of the RPC makes killing of bovine animals a punishable offence, the 298-B makes “possession of any slaughtered animal” a punishable act in the state.

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Recently, a division bench of Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Janak Raj Kotwal had ordered the government to strictly enforce the ban on sale of beef across the state, leading to widespread opposition and started a political controversy.

Opposition National Conference, independent legislator Sheikh Abdul Rashid and CPI (M) legislator Mohammad Yusuf Taragami had submitted separate bills in the state assembly secretariat seeking to scrap the ban on beef in Jammu and Kashmir. So far, speaker of the House who is member of Bhartiya Janta Party has not yet made it clear whether he will allow a discussion on the bill or not.