MUMBAI // A Mumbai court on Friday struck down a law that had banned the consumption of beef in Maharashtra state, dealing a blow to right-wing Hindu groups.
Last year the government of Maharashtra made the sale or possession of beef an offence punishable by a five-year jail term or a Rs10,000 (Dh550) fine.
It was one of the strictest such laws in India, where several states ban the slaughter of cows, considered sacred by the Hindu majority.
However the Bombay High Court, Mumbai’s top court, ruled on Friday that it was no longer illegal to possess or eat beef, as long as it had been brought into Maharashtra from outside the state.
But it upheld the part of the law, introduced in March 2015, that had extended a 1976 ban on slaughtering cows to cover bulls and bullocks, according to the ruling published on the court’s website.
“The court has struck down that provision which says that the consumption of beef is illegal in Maharashtra,” Haresh Jagtiani, a prominent lawyer said.
Mr Jagtiani was one of several petitioners who had asked the court to overturn the ban on consumption, saying that it infringed upon their right to privacy as protected in India’s constitution.
“They’ve struck down the provision that bans the import of beef into Maharashtra for the purpose of consumption and trade. Those bans have been declared to be unconstitutional,” he said.
Restaurants will now be allowed to sell imported beef again, Mr Jagtiani said, adding that the court had ruled in favour of people’s right to eat the food they want, “wherever they want”.
“We’re thrilled. It’s a total vindication,” he said.
Right-wing Hindu groups in India have long demanded a complete ban on the slaughter of all cattle, citing religious scriptures.
They celebrated last year when Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party in alliance with the right-wing Shiv Sena party, toughened its laws.
Maharashtra’s chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, tweeted at the time that “our dream of ban on cow slaughter becomes a reality now”.
Muslims, the country’s largest religious minority and the main players in India’s beef industry, claimed the law unfairly targeted them.
While the slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks remains illegal in Maharashtra, the slaughtering of water buffalo remains permissible.
Friday’s ruling, which came after the court heard a number of petitions against the legal amendment, made no concessions to those in the slaughter trade.
* Agence France-Presse