On Thursday (12th March), the Supreme Court of India issued notice on a PIL seeking a ban on ‘Pashubali‘ (animal sacrifice) by Hindus.
The Public Interest Litigation was filed before the apex court by an advocate named Shruti Bist. The matter was heard by a 2-Judge Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.
The petitioner sought the court’s direction to the Union Ministry of Animal Husbandry to amend Section 28 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960 to ban Pashubali.
Section 28 of the legislation states, “Nothing contained in this Act shall render it an offence to kill any animal in a manner required by the religion of any community.”
Advocate Shruti Bist cited different forms of animal cruelty and claimed that dogs, cats, horses, and livestock suffer the most abuse in India.
The petitioner argued, “Presently, regions like Bali, Indonesia, Nepal, and India-the Himalayas, northeastern India, parts of Orissa and Bengal, Maharashtra, and Southern India still uphold the practice of animal sacrifice. Usually, young male animals, full of life, are chosen for bali.”
“In some outlier cases, people have chosen to sacrifice their young or even themselves as bali to the divine,” she brazened out.
