The Jammu & Kashmir high court on Thursday banned the “sale of beef” in the state and did not proscribe cow slaughter as such as that has been strictly prohibited by law for the past nearly 120 years in spite of the fact that it is a Muslim-majority state.
Sections 298-A and 298-B of J&K’s own Ranbir Penal Code of 1932, which govern the slaughter of cattle in the state, say voluntary slaughter of any bovine animal such as cow, ox, bull or calf shall be punished with imprisonment of up to 10 years and/or a fine that may extend to five times the price of the animals slaughtered, as determined by the court. Possession of the flesh of slaughtered animals is also an offence punishable with imprisonment up to one year and fine up to Rs 500. The law, first introduced during autocratic Dogra rule in 1896, was retained by the post-1947 government.