The organisers of a once-in-a-five-year event in Nepal called the Gadhimai festival are awaiting the outcome of a PIl in the Supreme Court which alleged that hordes of cattle sacrificed at the ceremony there are illegally smuggled from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttarakhand.
The Bench of Justices JS Khehar and Arun Mishra issued notice on the PIl filed by one Gauri Maulekhi to the Centre and four States and posted the matter for hearing on Friday after coming to know that movement of cattle for slaughtering had started ahead of the two-day festival that begins at Bariyarpur, Nepal on November 28.
Showing gory pictures from the event organised in 2009 and 2004, the petitioner represented by senior advocate Anand Grover pointed out that over five lakh animals will be slaughtered at the event of which 70 per cent will be supplied from India.
This is not legal, the petition said, as unregulated movement of cattle across Indo-Nepal border violates the Export and Import Policy of India and Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act 1992. A large number of cattle is smuggled across the porous border of Bihar, which contravenes Section 4A of Bihar Preservation and Improvement of Animals Act 1955, the petition added. Besides being illegal, the petitioner raised risks of diseases and infection as the cattle is not fed. Starved, thirsty, tired and made to stay in unhygienic conditions, the cattle contract infections and diseases that not only puts their lives at risk but threaten to affect people and other livestock.
In view of the high risks posed by illegal movement of cattle, the Department of Border Management under Ministry of Home Affairs alerted the Sashastra Seema Bal to maintain vigil at all border posts. But despite such warnings, the movement has continued from India to Nepal, the petition alleged.