CHENNAI: Reiterating ban on camel slaughter in Tamil Nadu, Madras high court has cautioned police that jurisdictional police officers would be held 'personally responsible' if judicial order against transportation and slaughter of camels is violated.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay KishanKaul and Justice R Mahadevan, referring to Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) counsel Jayesh B Dolia's submission that The Times of India had carried an article on unauthorized presence of camels in Chennai for Bakrid sacrifice, said: "We are sure that the state government will take all steps to ensure that our order is not violated and we make it clear that the in-charge of the local police station would be personally responsible in case we find any violation of the order. This aspect be circulated to all the police stations concerned."
Reiterating its August 18 order banning camel slaughter, and pointing out that it was passed after hearing all stake-holders, the first bench said it could not entertain petitions that sought to circumvent its earlier orders. "We are not inclined to entertain this petition for the simple reason that what it seeks in effect is nullification of the interim order passed by us and other connected matters," they said.
During arguments, the bench said that it had banned camel slaughter not only due to absence of slaughter facilities in the state, but also due to other factors such as transportation of the animals from far off places, including Rajasthan, where shifting camels outside the state had been banned.
The bench said camel was not a native animal of Tamil Nadu, and added, "you cannot insist on sacrificing camel. Nobody prohibits sacrifice, but this animal is not in Tamil Nadu and it is not native to the state." It also rejected the argument that camel slaughter came under essential religious practices.
As for the PIL's prayer that the state government put in place the mechanized slaughter facility for camels, the bench said manual slaughter trade is opposing mechanized facility and court had no say on it.
On August 18, the bench had said: "In view of the stand of the central government and the provisions of the central Act, including Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, at present we cannot have a situation where such camel slaughtering is permitted, especially in the absence of any facility for it."
