Indian Supreme Court suspends cattle trade ban

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) - The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday stayed a government notification banning the sale of cattle for slaughter at markets across the country.

The apex court said that the ban affected thousands of livelihoods associated with the cattle industry.

The suspension of the ban comes as relief for India's minority Muslim community and Dalits, considered untouchable, who are engaged in animal slaughter.

A law passed this May, by the Indian government led by right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Minister Narendra Modi, banned the sale of cows and buffaloes in animal markets for slaughter.

Farmers could only bring cattle to a market after submitting a written declaration that it would not be sold for slaughter.

The government informed the apex court that it will take three months to review the law.

The ruling comes as a setback for the Hindu nationalist government, which had been criticized for using the ban to appease religious sentiments of its voters.

Cows are considered sacred in Hindu religion. After Modi came to power in 2014, many states in the country enacted harsher laws against cow slaughter.

The ban had invited criticism from southern states of India, where the Tamil Nadu High Court stayed the order on May 30.

In the northeast, where beef is eaten widely, beef festivals were organized to protest the ban.

Several BJP leaders in the northeast left the party to protest the ban.

India has seen increased incidents of mob lynching over beef rumors in recent months.

Last month, a mob stabbed to death 16-year-old Junaid Khan on a train to Mathura from Delhi, accusing him of carrying bags full of beef.

In a similar incident also last month, a 45-year-old Muslim trader was killed by a mob of more than 100 people in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district on suspicions of carrying beef in his car.