- Title: India’s top court suspends ban on trade in cattle for slaughter
- Date: 11th July 2017
- Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (JULY 11, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF INDIA'S SUPREME COURT CLOSE OF THE DOME OF THE COURT INDIAN NATIONAL FLAG LAWYERS STANDING CLOSE OF LAWYER HOLDING HIS SPECTACLES
- Embargoed: 25th July 2017 11:31
- Keywords: India New Delhi cattle slaughter ban court proceedings
- Location: NEW DELHI/KANPUR, UTTAR PRADESH/GURUGRAM, HARYANA, INDIA
- City: NEW DELHI/KANPUR, UTTAR PRADESH/GURUGRAM, HARYANA, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016P9VN7P
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:India's Supreme Court suspended on Tuesday (July 11) a government ban on the trade of cattle for slaughter, a boost for the multi-billion dollar beef and leather industries mostly run by members of the Muslim minority.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government in May decreed that markets could only trade cattle for agricultural purposes, such as ploughing and dairy production, on the grounds of stopping cruelty to animals.
The slaughter of cows, considered holy in Hinduism, was already banned in most parts of India, but Hindu hardliners and cow vigilante groups have been increasingly asserting themselves since Modi's government came to power in 2014.
Muslims, who make up 14 percent of India's 1.3 billion people, said the May government decree against the beef and leather industry employing millions of workers was aimed at marginalising them.
India's meat and leather industries are worth more than $16 billion in annual sales.
A petitioner's lawyer, Sanobar Ali said the federal government told the court its secretary was reviewing the notification. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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