Delhi Govt files affidavit in HC defending law criminalising consumption of beef

The Delhi Government has filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court (DHC) defending the law that criminalises possession and consumption of beef in the city.

Delhi Government has submitted that the state was obligated under the Constitution to protect cows and other milch and draught animals from slaughter. 

An affidavit has been filed in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the Constitutional validity of those provisions of the Delhi Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act which criminalises possession and consumption of beef in the city.

The Department of Animal Husbandry of the Delhi Government made the submission before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar.

The department said, “The Article 48 of the Constitution casts an obligation on the state to take steps to preserve, improve and prohibit slaughter of cows, calves and other milch animals and draught cattle".

"Therefore, the provisions of the Delhi Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act criminalising the possession and consumption of beef in the national capital be not declared as unconstitutional."

The DHC will hear the matter on May 16.