No guidelines on beef ban yet: Congress

A Congress MLA on Thursday questioned the government for not issuing guidelines on the beef ban three months after the high court’s verdict allowing possession and carrying of the meat. Congress MLA Asif Sheikh raised the issue that the government was not following the HC’s verdict and said that the festival of Bakri Eid was coming closer and hence, the government should come up with clear guidelines to avoid any conflict.

With the government bound to follow the court’s verdict, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis assured the Assembly that he would soon give instructions to officials in this regard. “The high court upheld the state's Act, only striking down one provision. I will instruct officials to act according to the HC decision,” he said.

Apart from Mr Sheikh, former chief minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chauhan too said, “It’s over three months since the high court has given its decision. It has relaxed some provisions in the Act. The government must issue guidelines.” Another Congress MLA, Naseem Khan, while speaking to the media, demanded that government officials be made aware of the HC verdict. “There have been instances where some raids and checks have been conducted while transporting meat. If government officials are not aware about the HC verdict, innocents will be punished unnecessarily,” he said.

The HC in May ruled that possessing beef in Maharashtra was not illegal, relaxing a law that banned slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks in the state. The order allowed possession of beef in the state and put the onus on police to prove whether the beef came from a cow, bull or bullock in the state. The court also said that if a person was found to possess beef, he did not have to prove to police that it was not from cattle slaughtered in Maharashtra.