Cow should be declared as national animal: Allahabad High Court

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has said that the cow should be declared the national animal of India and its protection should be part of the fundamental rights of the Hindu community.

The court made this observation while denying bail to Javed who had been accused of cow slaughter.

The court said on Wednesday that when the country's culture and its faith get hurt, the country becomes weak.

In his 12-page judgement, Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav noted that the applicant had, after committing theft of the cow, killed it, beheaded it and also kept its meat.

"This is not the first offence of the applicant. Earlier also, he had committed cow slaughter which had disturbed the harmony of the society," Justice Yadav said.

The court further observed that "fundamental right is not only the prerogative of beef eaters. Rather, those who worship the cow and are financially dependent on them also have the right to lead a purposeful life. The right to life is above the right to kill and the right to eat beef can never be considered a fundamental right."

The court said, "the government will also have to bring a bill in Parliament and declare cows the national animal and make strict laws against those who talk about harming them. Laws should come for those also who talk about cow protection by making cowsheds, etc., but have nothing to do with cow protection. Their only aim is to earn money in the name of cow protection."

"There are hundreds of examples in our country that whenever we forgot our 'sanskriti' (culture), the foreigners attacked us and made us slaves. Even today, if we do not wake up, then we should not forget the autocratic Taliban invasion and occupation of Afghanistan," the court observed.

Stressing the significance attached to the cow, the court said, "it is not that only Hindus have understood the importance of cows, Muslim rulers have also considered the cow an important part of India's culture during their reign. Babur, Humayun and Akbar had banned cow slaughter in their religious festivals. Mysore's ruler Hyder Ali had made cow slaughter a cognisable offence.