The slaughter of cattle is strictly restricted to licensed, designated slaughterhouses that adhere to mandated sanitary and waste management standards. There is no fundamental right to perform animal sacrifice in public or unsanctioned areas, and the state must implement strict enforcement to ensure compliance with these regulations.

Order :

(Order of the Court was made by G.R.Swaminathan J.)

1.Heard both sides.

2. The question that calls for consideration in this PIL is whether cows and calves can be sacrificed in places not designated as slaughter houses on the occasion of Bakrid.

3. The writ petitioner is a resident of Coimbatore. He is an activist. His complaint is that for the purpose of qurban (sacrifice) on the occasion of Bakrid, arrangements have been made for slaughtering cows and calves in areas not designated as slaughter houses. He submitted a representation to the authorities. Since it was not considered, he filed the present writ petition for directing the authorities to take steps to prevent such slaughter.

4. Counter affidavit has been filed and paragraphs 4 and 5 of it read as follows.

“ 4. It is respectfully submitted that, on 21.05.2026, the respondent police visited the scene of occurrence and inspected the place designated for cow slaughter (Qurban). Upon such inspection, the respondent police came to understand that the concerned authorities had erected a temporary shed for the purpose of conducting cow slaughter in a non-public area, without causing any obstruction to traffic or offending the religious sentiments of persons belonging to other communities.

5. It is submitted that now the petitioner filed this present petition before this Hon’ble High Court, Madras seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to consider the petitioner’s representation dated 18.05.2026 and take steps to prevent the slaughter of cows in public places and pass such further or other orders.”

6. The respondents have thus conceded the veracity of the averments set out in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition.

7. Article 48 of the Constitution of India mandates that the State shall take steps for prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle. During the debates in the Constituent Assembly, it was pointed out that cow is a revered animal and that it has been associated with our civilisation from the time of Lord Krishna. During the rule of many Muslim kings cow slaughter was abolished. Cow protection was an issue so dear to Mahatma Gandhiji. The eminent scholar Shri Dharampal pointed out that only to cater to the dietary requirements of the colonial army, cows came to be slaughtered in very large numbers. After India attained independence, several States passed legislations and those legislations had also been upheld.

8. The Hon’ble Supreme Court observed that many Muslims do not sacrifice cows on BakrI’d day. Sacrifice of a cow on that day is not an obligatory overt act for a Musalman to exhibit his religious belief and idea (Mohammed Hanif Quareshi vs. State of Bihar AIR 1958 SC 731). Sacrifice of any animal by the Muslims for the religious purpose on BakrI’d does not include slaughtering of cows as the only way of carrying out that sacrifice. Slaughtering of cows on this occasion is neither essential to nor necessarily required as part of the religious ceremony ( State of West Bengal -vs- Ashutosh Lahiri (1995) 1 SCC 189) . When the State of Gujarat enacted a ban on the slaughter of the progeny of cows by amending the Bombay Animal Preservation Act, the Hon’ble Supreme Court sustained the same (2005) 8 SCC 534 ( State of Gujarat -vs- Mirzapur Moti Kureshi Kassab Jamat ).

9. The State authorities are obliged to act in the matte