The Supreme Court on Monday suspended the controversial beef ban order by the Jammu & Kashmir High Court for two months even as it directed the Chief Justice of the HC to constitute a larger Bench to decide on the validity of the law that made sale of beef a punishable offence in the State.
A strange situation arose for the J&K Government after the Jammu bench and Srinagar Bench of the HC passed conflicting orders on September 8 and September 16 this year. The State was forced to approach the apex court as Jammu Bench sought strict enforcement of beef ban contained in Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) while the Srinagar Bench favoured scrapping the law.
Dealing with the State’s appeal, the bench of Chief Justice Hl Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy thought it appropriate to request the HC Chief Justice to form a Bench of three judges and decide the constitutional validity of the law in question.
The Bench said, “This kind of matter requires consideration of larger Bench as in our view, conflicting views have been expressed by the High Court.” The Bench directed Chief Justice of J&K to constitute the three-judge Bench at the earliest even as it directed the Jammu Bench’s order for enforcing the ban in “abeyance” for two months.
The counsel for the State Government requested the court to stay the beef ban order till the HC pronounces a verdict. But the Bench did not wish to alter its order. The Bench left it to the CJ to decide the place where the hearing is to take place.
The penal provisions of Sections 298A and 298C contained in the RPC prohibits voluntary slaughtering and sale of bovine animals. The State argued that the conflicting orders were misused by certain sections of the society who intended to disturb the peaceful fabric of the society.