Karnataka: Circular sent on animal stunning amid halal row

Stunning is the process of rendering animals immobile or unconscious. The department’s statement comes against the backdrop of a row over halal meat in the state.

Karnataka’s animal husbandry department on Saturday said that it has received complaints that animals were not being stunned before slaughter, which was in violation of rules.

In a circular, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services has asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to ensure the facilities to stun the animals are in place before giving licences to meat shops. (HT File)

Stunning is the process of rendering animals immobile or unconscious. The department’s statement comes against the backdrop of a row over halal meat in the state.

According to The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, “every slaughterhouse as soon as possible shall provide a separate space for stunning of animals before slaughter, bleeding and dressing of the carcasses.”

In a circular, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services has asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to ensure the facilities to stun the animals are in place before giving licences to meat shops.

“We have received complaints from people about the stunning procedure not being followed at slaughterhouses and chicken stalls… Request the Bangalore City SPCA to report on the action taken,” the department said in the order.

State’s minister of animal husbandry Prabhu Chauhan said that the department has not issued any mandatory ‘stunning’ order. “No orders have been issued by our department. Stunning is not mandatory,” he said.

Five Bajrang Dal activists were arrested in Shivamogga district in Karnataka for allegedly attacking a Muslim trader for selling halal meat, even as the ‘Boycott halal products’ campaign by Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal intensified in the state.Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed to people to celebrate Hindu new year Ugadi and ‘Hosa Tadaku’ festivals peacefully without disturbing law and order.

During Hosa Tadaku, which is celebrated a day after Ugadi, Hindus who prefer non-vegetarian food, cook meat and chicken. The right wing activists have appealed to the Hindus not to buy halal meat as it is already offered to Allah by the Muslims and offering such ‘stale meal’ would be a disrespect to Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

On Thursday, two incidents were reported in Bhadrawati town, one in Hosamane Police Station limits and another in old town police station limits, Shivamogga Superintendent of Police B M Lakshmi Prasad told reporters on Friday.

In Hosamane, five people went to the shop and demanded non-halal meat. When it was not provided, the shop was shut. They assaulted one boy in the shop, he added. Similarly, a case was registered in old town police station where some people went to Janata Hotel and told the owner not to sell halal meat. When a customer questioned, he was assaulted, the officer said.

“In both the cases, the same accused have been named. A case has been registered against them and they have been arrested. They are Vadivelu, Srikanth, Krishna, Sawai Singh and Gunda,” Prasad said.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had said on Wednesday that the state government will look into halal meat issue as “serious objections” have now been raised against it. “The halal issue has just started. We have to study it. It’s a practice that is going on. Now serious objections have been raised about it. I will look into it,” Bommai had said during a press conference.

On Wednesday, Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw had also tweeted regarding the issue while tagging the CM. “Karnataka has always forged inclusive economic development and we must not allow such communal exclusion- If ITBT became communal it would destroy our global leadership. @BSBommai please resolve this growing religious divide,”Shaw had tweeted.

Shop owners have been forced to remove halal from their signboards, instead specifically mention that they sell only jhatka meat (culled using electric shock). With polls just a year away, the BJP has been accused by the opposition of fanning communal sentiments by trying to consolidate the fragmented Hindu vote and return to power by polarising the population.

“As far as my government is concerned there are only wings of growth, there is no right or left wing. We are interested in the central idea of peace, development and security for the common man,” CM had said while responding to a question on right-wing organisations taking law into their own hands.