HC refuses to allow animal sacrifice near protected Vishalgad Fort

The Bombay high court has refused to grant relief to a trust that has been barred from carrying out animal sacrifice within the protected area of the Vishalgad Fort in Kolhapur. The court stated that it would not permit unregulated or unmonitored slaughter of animals and that maintaining hygiene and sanitation was of utmost importance. The trust had claimed that slaughtering was being carried out 1.3km away from the fort. The bench asked the authorities to file their replies by July 3 and posted the hearing to July 5.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday said that it would not permit unregulated or unmonitored slaughter of animals and refused to grant reliefs to a trust which has been barred from carrying out animal sacrifice within the protected area of the Vishalgad Fort in Kolhapur.

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The trust was barred by the archaeology department from carrying out animal sacrifice based on a 1998 HC order that restrained offering sacrifices to deities.

The HC said that maintaining hygiene and sanitation was of utmost importance and the guidelines laid down by it in 2019 had to be followed by all, hence it would not grant interim reliefs to the trust which claimed that slaughtering was being carried out 1.3km away from the fort.

The division bench of justice Gautam Patel and justice Neela Gokhale while hearing the petition of Hazrat Peer Malik Rehan Mira Saheb Dargah Trust which challenged the communication dated February 1 by the deputy director of Archaeology and Museums, Mumbai was informed by advocate Satish Talekar that the communication was motivated and was issued at the behest of some right-wing groups.

Airing the grievances of the trust against the communication, Talekar submitted, “The impugned orders are issued under the influence of right-wing outfits and to please the majority community for political gains by the party in power.”

He added that members owing allegiance to the VHP and Bajrang Dal were holding protests and trying to mount pressure on the administration to appease the majority population. He added that the dargah was revered by Muslims and Hindus alike and hence such orders were not in good taste. He added that the tradition of offering sacrifices at the dargah was being observed since 1058 AD and residents of all communities benefited from the sacrificial offerings.

However, the bench remarked that if the petitioner was trying to canvas that the order of the archaeology department was motivated it was not going to grant any interim reliefs and would dismiss the petition.

Talekar then said that the trust was not pressing for interim reliefs but stressed that as the slaughtering was done away from the fort the ban was not justified.

The bench, however, noted that like in the past when the bench headed by justice SC Dharmadhikari and justice Patel issued guidelines to curb slaughtering sacrificial animals on the occasion of Bakrid in homes and building compounds, the same guidelines needed to be followed everywhere else.

“There is no question of interim relief in matters like this. It is an irreversible process. We are not going to permit unregulated and unmonitored slaughter anywhere. Some level of civic hygiene and sanitation should be maintained. Though it may be an age-old tradition there is a need to maintain certain sanitation and hygiene,” remarked the court.

Talekar then pointed out that though the tradition was followed in many temples, the dargah had been singled out to which the bench said, “It has to start somewhere. We will ask for slaughtering to stop everywhere (places of worship).”

The bench then asked the authorities to file their replies by July 3 and posted the hearing to July 5.