"You Can Restrain From Eating Meat For 1-2 Days": High Court To Petitioner

The Gujarat High Court has asked petitioners against temporary closure of a slaughterhouse in Ahmedabad due to a Jain festival to not eat meat for some days, according to reports.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, or AMC, had ordered the city's only slaughterhouse to pull down its shutters between August 24 and 31, and September 4 and 9 due to festivals.

The petitioner Kul Hind Jamiat-Al Quresh Action Committee Gujarat, however, told the high court that the AMC order "restrains" people's right to food, The Times of Indiareported.

Justice Sandeep Bhatt replied, "You can restrain yourself for one or two days from eating meat..."

Danish Qureshi Razawala, who represented the committee, said the matter was not about restraining oneself, but about fundamental rights.

"Now there's only one slaughterhouse in Ahmedabad city and it [closure] was done on the occasion of Paryushan, a Jain festivity. Appropriate representation was made before the AMC commissioner on August 23," the petitioner said, according to a report by The Indian Express.

After the hearing, Justice Bhatt adjourned the matter to September 2.

The Gujarat High Court in December last year had asked the state government whether it had been trying to remove non-vegetarian food handcarts from the streets, after a petition alleged such a drive was going on. The state government had denied the allegation.