The Supreme Court issued notices to the Central government and six states – Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Karnataka – over a plea seeking a ban on cow vigilante groups.
Youth Congress leader and activist Tehseen Poonawalla had filed the petition in the apex court last year after instances of alleged violence by these groups. A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and AM Khanwilkar on Friday gave the Central and state governments three weeks to file their replies. The bench fixed the next hearing on May 3.
The counsel for the petitioner referred to the incident at Alwar in Rajasthan last week where a man was allegedly killed by a mob of cow vigilantes. The counsel said the situation in these states was worrisome.
Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Central government, told the bench that formal notices were not issued to the states, after which the apex court sought responses from them.
The Supreme Court had on October 21 last year agreed to examine the plea, which alleged Dalits and minorities were the targets of violence by cow vigilantes. Poonawalla, in his plea, said violence by 'gau raksha' groups has reached such proportions that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared them as people who are “destroying the society”.
The vigilantes needed to be “regulated and banned in the interest of social harmony, public morality and law and order in the country”, the petition said. “The menace caused by the so-called cow protection groups is spreading fast to every nook and corner of the country and is creating disharmony among various communities and castes,” it said.
The plea sought to declare as “unconstitutional” Section 12 of the Gujarat Animal Prevention Act, 1954; Section 13 of Maharashtra Animal Prevention Act, 1976; and Section 15 of Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, 1964, which provide for protection of persons acting in good faith under the Act or rules.
“These laws and the protection granted therewith act as a catalyst to violence perpetrated by these vigilante groups,” it said.
The petition said the atrocities committed by them were punishable under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989.
With inputs from PTI.
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