The Bombay High Court was told on Thursday that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had granted online permissions to lawyers to slaughter goats inside the High Court’s courtrooms.
A Division Bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Riyaz Chagla was hearing a petition filed by Vinod Jain, a trustee of the Jiv Maitri Trust. He is challenging notices issued by the BMC for granting permissions to slaughter sheep and goats outside the Deonar abattoir for the Bakri Eid festival next week.
The notices have been issued and published by the general manager of Deonar Slaughter House, where the BMC has granted permission to sacrifice sheep and goats in unlicensed premises, that is, anywhere outside the abattoir. The online licences can help purchase up to five sheep and goats respectively.
The court took note of permissions granted by BMC to slaughter goats at a lawyer’s office at Arcadia Nariman Point and to another lawyer for slaughtering five goats at his office at Rajabhai Mansion. The court said, “Shockingly, permissions have also been granted to one Neil Armstrong and Sean Vaz for slaughtering goats inside courtroom 13 of the HC (where Justice Oka resides).”
Commenting on the documents shown to court, the bench said, “These reflect that permissions have been granted without any verification and application of mind. They flout rules under the Cruelty of Animals Act which talks about slaughter to take place inside a slaughter house and not anywhere else.” The court told the BMC counsel, “Before granting permissions, all conditions should be looked into earlier as once they are granted there is no control on them.”
The court asked the corporation if they could stop issuing online permissions till August 20. The counsel said, “The process of granting online permission shall be stopped immediately.”
Advocate Sujay Kantawala, appearing for Mr. Jain said, “Permissions have been granted to lawyers to slaughter goats inside four courtrooms, even in the one the acting chief justice of HC sits.”
The BMC told the court it will stop granting all online permissions after the court said the manner in which permissions are granted requires a lot of scrutiny, and adjourned the matter to August 20.
