The Bombay High Court on Monday questioned whether it could prohibit animal slaughter during the nine-day Jain festival ‘Paryushan Parv’ and cautioned that granting such a request could set a precedent for other communities to seek similar bans during their festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri.
A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep Marne was hearing a petition from a Jain community trust challenging 2024 orders by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and civic bodies of Nashik and Pune, which permitted only a one-day slaughter ban during Paryushan last year. The trust is now seeking a nine-day ban on slaughter from August 21.
Highlighting Jainism’s core principle of Ahimsa (non-violence), the trust argued that slaughter during Paryushan undermines their religious sentiments. However, the court questioned whether passing such an order could lead to similar demands from other religious groups.
“It shouldn’t happen that tomorrow every other religion also makes similar demands. If you get an order for nine days, others could seek bans during Ganesh Chaturthi or Navratri,” the bench remarked.
The Maharashtra government has already designated 15 days annually for slaughter bans, including one day during Paryushan. The bench pointed out that Mumbai’s Deonar slaughterhouse serves surrounding municipalities lacking their own facilities, complicating any extended closure.
The court asked under which statutory obligation slaughterhouses could be ordered shut for nine days, and whether it should intervene when the state had already made a policy decision.
The bench directed BMC, Nashik, Pune, and Mira Bhayandar municipal corporations to decide on the trust’s representation seeking a nine-day ban and issue their decision by August 18.
Senior counsel Darius Khambata, representing the trust, argued that last year the BMC justified a one-day ban citing Mumbai’s diverse population, while Nashik and Pune gave no reasoning, and Mira Bhayandar Corporation failed to issue any order at all.
The court instructed the trust to submit fresh representations to the civic bodies for reconsideration of the ban request.
