SC suspends J&K beef ban for 2 months

The Supreme Court on Monday suspended the ban on bovine slaughter and sale of beef in Jammu & Kashmir for two months.

A bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy asked the chief justice of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court to constitute a three-judge bench to “resolve” the issue in view of the “conflicting” orders by the two coordinate high court benches.

The three-judge bench would be set up at Srinagar and both the matters in which two “conflicting” orders were passed in September would be placed before it, the apex court stated.

The Jammu bench of the High Court had on September 8 ordered enforcement of the ban on beef in the state in accordance with the provision of the Ranbir Penal Code, while the Srinagar bench on September 16 entertained a PIL against the ban and sought explanations from the government on validity of such legal provisions.

“We have two conflicting orders and it is required to be resolved by the chief justice of the high court by constituting a three-judge bench. This type of matter requires a larger bench. We request the chief justice to constitute such a bench to take a decision on the two petitions,” the bench said,  while keeping in abeyance the order imposing ban.

The bench disposed of the petition filed by the state government and asked it to raise all contentions before the high court.

As senior advocates Colin Gonsalves and Bhim Singh pointed out that the issue has been raised in the state Assembly as well, the court observed, “The legislature can substitute the law and remove the provisions if it desires so.”