Plea in HC against ban on animal scrifice within protected area of Vishalgad fort in Kolhapur

A petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the recent ban on the ''age-old practice'' of animal sacrifice within the protected area of Vishalgad fort in Kolhapur.

The plea filed by the Hajrat Peer Malik Rehan Mira Saheb Dargah Trust challenged the directive issued by the Deputy Director of Archaeology and Museums, Mumbai on February 1 this year prohibiting illegal animal slaughter in the name of sacrifice to Gods.

The directive cited a 1998 high court order that prohibited animal sacrifice in the names of Gods or Goddesses at public places.

''The impugned orders are issued under the influence of right-wing outfits or Hindu fundamentalists and to please the majority community for political gains by the party in power and therefore suffer from malafides,'' the petition claimed.

''The authorities had swung into action only under an influence exerted by right-wing Hindu fundamentalists and not because there was either a law and order problem or such slaughtering was spreading unhygienic conditions or causing the threat to the security of the monument, i.e. Vishalgad fort,'' it added.

The petitioner said the dargah run by the trust within the fort precinct was one of the most ancient and historical monuments in Maharashtra, constructed in the 11th century and visited by both Hindus and Muslims.

''The mosque and the tomb are revered and worshipped equally by Hindus and Muslims even today,'' the petition said.

It claimed that animal sacrifice at the dargah was an integral custom and that the actual sacrifice does not take place at a public place but at a privately-owned land and is performed behind closed doors.

According to the plea, these offerings are served to pilgrims and others at the dargah and have been a source of food to many poor and backward people residing in the surrounding villages of Vishalgad fort.

The petition said the directive issued banning slaughter was arbitrary, discriminatory, unjust, high handed, oppressive and violative of their fundamental rights. The plea is likely to be heard by a division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale on Thursday.