Mumbai: Pranab Mukherjee has approved the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, nineteen years after it was passed by the then BJP-Shiv Sena government in 1995.
Now anyone found to be selling beef or in possession of it can be jailed for five years and fined upto 10,000 rupees.
The bill also bans slaughter of bullocks and bulls, which was earlier allowed. The new law will, however, allow slaughter of buffaloes. The law is expected to hit beef traders, mostly from the Muslim community, hard.
Beef traders had gone on strike in February to protest against alleged harassment by authorities. They say the ban on beef will increase shortage of fodder in the state and also drive up the cost of other meat like chicken and mutton.
"This will affect even those who do not eat or sell meat. Atmosphere is being craeted where eating meat is a crime," said beef traders.
Comments
0 comment