Law student, lawyer take on beef ban before Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has sought the Delhi government’s reply on the criminalization of possession and consumption of beef. Senior counsel Sanjay Hegde appeared for the petitioners before a bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal J..The petitioners, law student Gaurav Jain, lawyer Kahorngam Zimik and the Dr. Ambedkar Educational Foundation, have challenged the constitutionality of those provisions of the Delhi Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act which criminalize the possession and consumption of beef..Filed through lawyer Apar Gupta, the petition states that these provisions have no logical nexus with the objective of the Cattle Preservation Act i.e. the prohibition of agricultural cattle slaughter within Delhi..In fact, these provisions make it illegal to possess beef which has been slaughtered outside Delhi or even India, for that matter. Additionally, an evidentiary presumption of illegality arises out of mere possession of beef irrespective of where the slaughter took place..“The effect of Section 9 read with Section 13 of the Act is that if an individual purchases cooked or raw beef, or tinned beef in the State of Goa, Kerala or any one of the North Eastern States, where the slaughter of bulls and bullocks is permitted and perfectly legal, and brings the same into National Capital Territory of Delhi, he would be committing an offence under Section 9.”.The petition also notes the spate of recent events involving the alleged consumption or even the mere possession of beef..“In the past 12 months, several incidents have occurred wherein innocent persons have been arrested, hanged to death, lynched and violently attacked on the pretext of consumption of cow meat….The pretext of suspected beef eating is used by vigilante mobs to resort to violence which sometimes ends in human fatalities. The police and the law and order machinery do not tend to protect the citizen against mob violence in these cases as they commonly believe that consumption of bovine meat is a crime wholly punishable by law.” .The Petitioners seek from the Court the striking off of Ss. 8, 9, 13, 14 and 15 of the Delhi Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act, 1994 as unconstitutional and seek an interim order against implementation of the above mentioned sections..This petition comes after a similar legislation was partially struck down by the Bombay High Court. In May this year, Justices AS Oka and SC Gupte struck down two of the most controversial amendments to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act of 1976..After issuing notice, the court observed that a challenge to the Bombay High Court’s decision is pending before the Supreme Court. The matter will now heard by the Delhi High Court on September 15, 2016.