MUMBAI, India (Reuters) — Members of a Hindu nationalist group have forced several abattoirs in the Indian state of Maharashtra to close after a law was passed banning the beef trade there, a leader of the group and a lawyer for meat traders said.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council, a nationalist group linked to prime minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, acted after winning a court order to stop the killing of bulls and bullocks.
“Members of the VHP came to Deonar abattoir late at night and asked us to stop the slaughter, showing the copy of the High Court order,” said Mohammad Ali Qureshi, president of the Bombay Suburban Beef Dealers Association.
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Deonar, on the outskirts of Mumbai, is India’s largest abattoir. The beef trade is mainly controlled by minority Muslims, raising concern that the ban is driven by Modi loyalists pursuing a Hindu agenda.
President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Bill, which had been pending for 20 years, extending a ban on the killing of cows, considered sacred by Hindus, to bulls and bullocks.
The law calls for up to five years of jail for anyone found in possession of beef, according to media reports.
But the state government said it could take a week to implement the law, prompting the VHP to petition the Bombay High Court for an immediate ban.
“Why wait for another five to six days, just for paper formalities and the final draft?” asked Vyankatesh Abdeo, all-India secretary of the VHP. “If we would have waited, thousands of cattle would have been slaughtered.”
Meat centres across the state, including Deonar, have stopped operating.
