The Supreme Court has decided to hear on Monday an appeal by the Jammu & Kashmir Government challenging two conflicting orders by separate Benches of the J&K High Court on beef ban.
The order was passed by a Bench headed by Chief Justice Hl Dattu after senior advocate Amarendra Saran mentioned the case for urgent listing. Beef ban involves a sensitive issue in the State and under the Ranvir Penal Code, its sale is prohibited. The Jammu Bench of the HC on September 8 had directed the State Government officials to strictly enforce this law.
Even before the State could contain the damage resulting from the order, a week later the Srinagar Bench of the HC entertained a PIl to scrap the provisions contained in the Ranvir Penal Code which makes slaughter of bovine animals and its sale a penal offence. The HC observed that the State was at liberty to initiate a decision on scrapping the law till the PIl comes up for hearing next.
Faced with the two conflicting orders, the State Government through advocate Sunil Fernandes approached the apex court pointing out that the divergent directions had complicated the State’s decision-making process. It also posed a law and order problem as some sections of the society were using the orders to their advantage.
The Jammu Bench in its order to enforce the ban had even directed all SSPs/SPs and SHOs of all police districts to take strict action against those who indulged in it. There was onus on the State to comply with the said direction by the next date of hearing. On the other hand, the Srinagar Bench gave a prima facie view that the ban was an unreasonable infringement on the fundamental rights of citizens. It even clarified that the pendency of the petition will not bar the State from scrapping the law in its present form.