Few days back, the BJP leaders of Northeast clarified that cow slaughter won’t be banned in the states if the party comes into power; however, at the same time, increasing the punishment for cow slaughter in Gujarat can increase the chances of party coming back into power.
Earlier the punishment for cow slaughter in Gujarat was seven years but the Gujarat assembly has now passed a bill after which the punishment has been increased to life imprisonment. After this amendment, Gujarat will have the toughest law in India for protecting cattle. It also provides for a fine of Rs. 1 lakh and permanent confiscation of the vehicle, which was used for transportation of cattle. There are good chances that the offence will also be made non-bailable.
For quite a good time now, we have been seeing that this topic has been the central point in the speeches of CM Vijay Rupani and it is also speculated that BJP may go for early state elections which are due in November-December.
Pradeepsinh Jadeja, the minister of state for home, said,
“During this auspicious occasion of Chhetri Navratri, the government, on suggestions of several sadhu-sants, has made amendments to the Gujarat Animal Protection (Amendment) Act, 2011. This is the harshest law in the country.”
Congress, the opposition party, has slammed the move and termed it as politically motivated. Shaktisinh Gohi, Congress MLA, said,
“This is not out of concern for cows. The BJP has passed this bill to get votes. Through this bill, it has been proved that BJP is anti-Dalit.”
By using the term anti-Dalit, he was indicating towards the beating incidents of Dalits by the gau-rakhsaks (cow vigilantes).
Congress believes that this law can help BJP in recovering its ground which it lost due to Patidar agitation for reservation.
CM Vijay Rupani has already given indications about the intentions of his government while speaking on March 12 in an event of Swaminarayan Sect in Junagadh. He said,
“We had fought a case in the Supreme Court to bring a law in Gujarat to save cows. Now, we want to make this law stricter. We will introduce a bill in the ongoing budget session of the assembly.”
Just to recall, a good number of Patidars/Patels follow Swaminarayan sect.
Gujarat CM once again raised the matter while speaking in Chhota Udepur in a Tribal Fair. He said,
“BJP is committed to protect Gau, Ganga and Gita (Bhagvad Gita). And for the same, we are bringing a stricter cow protection law.”
In 2011, during the reign of Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act, 1954, was amended and slaughtering of a cow or its offspring was completely banned. The act also prohibited the transportation of cows for the same purpose. As per the act, those who broke this law were supposed to serve sentence for seven years and pay a fine of Rs. 50,000. Not only this, the vehicle was also seized for six months.
However, even after amendment, there has been not a single conviction in the last six years despite the fact that 1000 cases are filed every year. The time taking legal process and provision of getting bail to the accused has rendered this law as useless. Let’s see what will happen after the latest amendment. What do you think? Share your views in the comments section below.
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Source:-RVCJ
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