The Telangana High Court on 17.07.2020 directed the government, municipal, police, and animal welfare department officials to campaign all over the state to spread a message. The message stated that it was illegal to eat camel meat. Moreover, the departments were allowed to prosecute those who were found slaughtering the animals.
Submission of the Petitioner
Adepu Divya was the counsel for the petitioner alleged against the state. The state authorities are not taking action against the illegal transport of camels. People of Telangana are slaughtering them as inhumane, illegal, unconstitutional. It is contrary to the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
Prayer of the Petitioner
Dr Shashikala Kopanati of Earth Quotient, an NGO, filed the PIL. It sought directions to curb the smuggling of camels into the state. It also sought directions for slaughtering camels during the Bakrid.
Submission of the Respondent
The counsel for the GHMC was A. Sanjeev Kumar. He stated in the Court that the authority has constituted separate teams for surveillance. The teams surveyed in the regular, licensed or unlicensed shops. They also surveyed in by lanes conducting surveillance exercise. In this year, till now, there is no illegal transportation of camels in the state, in view of Bakrid.
Observation of the Court
The Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy heard the PIL. The Court observed that the people eat camel meat during Ramzan or Bakrid. The people believe that it to be a custom. Moreover, people tend to think that it is legal to consume it. Hence, the government should inform the people that slaughtering camel is a punishable offence. Even selling and consuming its meat is a punishable offence.
The Court observed that the authorities did not do much to curb illegal smuggling. The authorities also did not do much to curb the illegal slaughtering of camels. It raised the question for the State Animal Welfare Board. The question concerned the actions which are taken to safeguard the camels in the State.
The Direction of the Court
The Court directed the State Government to keep strict vigilance for at least now. The judges said that it would look at the officials’ actions in controlling the violators in the next 10 days. Thus, the case was posted to July 29.
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