Open Letter/Cattle Trade : Read before you Riot

– Monika Arora

My dear so-called secularists! You are in trouble. You should have read the notification dated 23/05/2017 which is titled “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017” before provoking the students in educational institutions like IITs, colleges and in Kerala, West Bengal, North-East and before organising beef parties and butchering the calf in full public view in Kerala in protest.

Poor 18 month old calf would have been saved had you taken out few minutes from your busy evening NDTV debates and read the nine page notification.

Dear intellectuals, while you were busy organising meetings of ‘Dog Lovers’ and how to prevent cruelty to dogs (which I really appreciate) and trying to prove that the horse ‘Shaktiman’ was kicked, you failed to realise that Government of India has not dared to take away your right to serve and eat meat at such noble get-togethers.

Liberals, while you spent all your life holding seminars in Lutyens Delhi and filing cases in courts in India regarding prevention of cruelty to animals, I and the people of this country had thought  that you would take some time to read the draft of the present notification which was put in public domain on 16/01/2017 and suggestions were invited to be given in 30 days. This was in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court in the case of Gauri Maulekhi vs Union Of India W.P.(C) No.881/2014 in which the Hon’ble Supreme Court had directed on 13/07/2015 to frame guidelines to prevent animals from being smuggled out of India to Nepal where large scale animal sacrifice took place.

Hon’ble Supreme Court had also directed the Central Government to draft and notify rules regarding livestock market and direction was given to frame such rules under Section 38 (1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.

My dear animal lovers, it appears you were so busy hobnobbing from JNU to NDTV to Hurriyat leaders, may be you did not get time to read the entire notification. Therefore, let me briefly state the main points of the notification which are as follows:

1960. The rules are called “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 which are made under  Section 38(1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.
1961. Cattle (Cow, Buffalo, Bull, Camel) cannot be brought to animal market for sale for slaughter or sacrifice. Cattle cannot be sold to a person outside the State without permission as per the State cattle prevention laws. When the cattle is sold proof of sale shall be given to purchaser, seller, Tehsil office, chief veterinary officer and to the animal market committee.

iii.            All existing animal markets will have to be registered within 3 months with the District Animal Monitoring Committee. The Committee shall ensure that animal market has adequate lighting, water, feeding area, Veterinary facility, toilets, provisions for disposal of dead animals etc.

1. Cruel and harmful practices on animals including painting of horns, ear cutting in buffaloes, making animals lay on hard ground, use of chemicals on body of animals, forcing animals to perform unnatural acts, nose cutting, ear slitting or cutting by knife or hot iron marking on animals for identification purposes etc. are prohibited.

1. Purchaser of cattle cannot sell animal for slaughter or sacrifice.

1. Appointment of a Veterinary Officer to check the health of the animals.

vii.   Prohibition of sale of unfit, ill and pregnant animals.

My dear intellectuals, from Bharat tere tukde honge to Notification tere tukde honge to Cow tere tukde honge, you never thought of reading and understanding the notification and jumped onto criticise, condemn and demolish it as beef ban.

My friends, I do not think that you go to animal market to purchase cow for slaughter and then eat it. Intellectuals like you, simply go to a shop, ask for a plate of meat and enjoy the luxury of discussing and debating how to reduce poverty in India.

Right now also you can do the same. This notification does not affect your right to eat meat. This notification only regulates the condition prevailing in the animal markets which is unhygienic and inhuman and suffocated. In a cage where only 5 animals are supposed to be there, 10 are forcefully put. Even Kerala High Court recently stated so recently in one of its judgments.

I am also sure that people like you who belong to the elite class of the

society and are opinion makers are not affected by the notification which states that there will be no animal markets within 50 kilometers of international boarder or within 25 kilometers of State boarder.

My dear friends, entire India knows how you and your comrades have full faith in the Constitution of India and Democracy because after the JNU incident you swore by the Indian Constitution much more than you swore by Marx saying Bharat tere tukde honge. Is this your Freedom of Speech under Article 19 of Constitution of India? I will remind you that the same Constitution of India by which you have been swearing also has Article 48 which directs Government to ban cow slaughter and Article 37 which says that Directive Principles of State Policy are fundamental to the governance of the country and the Government shall consider all of this in making policy.

I will also not remind you of how Mahatma Gandhi advocated for ban on cow slaughter and that worshipping of cow is fundamental and essential to Hinduism and it is protected under Article 25 of the Constitution of India under Right to Freedom of Religion.

Kapil Sibal in the Hon’ble Supreme Court stated that Triple Talaq was fundamental and essential to Islam because it was practiced for over 1,400 years. My dear intellectuals, may I remind you that worshipping of cow in India has been practiced for more than 5,000 years.

Hon’ble Supreme Court in Mohd. Hanif Qureshi vs State of Bihar has stated that under Article 48, ban on cow slaughter is a valid law.

But why am I reminding you of the Constitutional provisions? You have such great intellectuals in media and battery of lawyers in Supreme Court who defend you.From Afzal Guru to Yakub Memon to Shahabuddin to Kanhaiya Kumar, all are your esteemed followers. But be careful, these lawyers have not reminded you that public butchering of an animal can land you in jail under Section 153A, 504, 505 IPC. They have also not told you about the Apex Court’s judgment where it is categorically stated that slaughtering of animal can take place only in licensed slaughter houses and not anywhere and everywhere. Hence, you have right to eat but you do not have right to slaughter animals anywhere and everywhere. Laxmi Narayan Modi vs UOI  W.P.(C) 309 of 2003.  

You cry for the stone pelters attacking the Indian Army, you shed tears at their wounds from the pellet guns and try to generate the sympathy of the whole nation for those stone pelters. The scene of public butchering of 18 month old calf is more barbaric and more violent. Isn’t it? You could have uttered few words of sympathy for the poor calf who was butchered by the likes of you and more importantly it was murdered because you had not read the Government notification. 

(The writer is Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India)