Madras High Court Seeks Response From Trichy Collector, Police On Plea Against Alleged Illegal Slaughter Of Cattle On Eid

The Madurai bench of Justice R Subramanian and Justice L Victoria Gowri issued notice to the respondent authorities on a plea filed by Rangarajan Narasimhan.

The court however also orally noted that it could not issue an immediate ban considering that the festival is just around the corner and directed the respondents to report whether any such slaughtering was being carried out in unauthorized places.

In his plea, Narasimhan said that in spite of various constitutional provisions and orders of the Supreme Court and various High Courts, cows, buffaloes, bulls, goats, etc are being killed "mercilessly and illegally" during the Muslim Festival of Eid-ul-Adha. He submitted that even though illegal slaughtering was happening in broad daylight, the authorities were not taking any steps to prevent the same. He added that this was against Articles 48, 48A, and 51A of the Constitution and the directions of the Supreme Court.

The plea claimed that hundreds of illegal slaughterhouses crop up during the festive season and there are several advertisements in the social media calling for the slaughter of the animals in the name of “Qurbani. 

The petition alleged that even though there are directions put in place by the division bench of the Madras High Court in 2022, the respondents have not taken any steps to prevent the same. 

It has been further submitted that slaughtering of cattle is not an integral part of Islam and hence there is no justification for the "illegal slaughtering". The court was told there is only one licensed slaughterhouse in Trichy located at Gandhi Market as per the information received from the corporation of Trichy.

Case Title: Rangarajan Narasimhan v The District Collector and others

Case No: WP (MD) 15220 of 2023