J&K Beef Ban Violates Article 370/Special Status of the Valley
2015-09-10 19:01:14
The decision came during a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) hearing. The PIL contended that the slaughtering and sale of bovine animals is rampant in some parts of the state which severely affected religious sentiments of a section of the society.
The PIL further stated that the practice continues despite the the fact that penal provisions of Ranbir Penal Code (the penal code that is applicable in the state of Jammu and Kashmir) make killing of bovine animals an offence punishable under Section 298-A.
Nothing can be further from the truth. The Ranbir Penal Code is subjugated to Article 370, which is an article of the Indian Constitution…
Apex Courts judgments have held that Penal Codes cannot violate the Indian Constitution…
Earlier, in 2014, valley based Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti had filed an RTI in the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) seeking information regarding the licences given to beef sellers in the city. It was informed that SMC had not given any licence to any seller.
This was taken wrongly out of context by the Pandit Sangharsh Samiti to mean that there was already a ban on beef in the valley!
"The ban was already there. We demanded that the beef shouldn't be sold in full public view that hurt the sentiments of a particular community," KPSSs Sanjay Tickoo said at that time…
In an amazing twist of logic, Tickoo also said that, " "If the ban is not implemented, it can be termed as a breach in the state's special status which is safeguarded under Article 370"!!!?
This is what is called RSS' distortion of constitutional provisions–article 370 is meant to preserve the special socio-cultural heritage and political entity of J&K which is a Muslim majority State. When beef-meat eaters are a majority even in Hindu religion, then what is the point of raking such an issue in a Muslim majority State?
In fact, Tickoo twists the special status given to J&K under article 370 to `safeguard' the interests of the minority living in J&K!!!
This is a total misreading, in fact a deliberate, mischievous misreading, of article 370 which is meant to safe-guard the special, Muslim character of the Valley! This can be gleaned with all debates at the time Kashmir acceded to India…
Rightly so, valley's largest socio-political organisation Jamaat-e-Islami, termed the J&K decision as totally 'unacceptable'. "It is absolutely not possible to convince the Muslim community to go against their ownreligion, so we oppose it," Jama'at head GM Bhat said.
Bhat added that safeguarding Article 370 in this case becomes 'totally irrelevant'. "If the state assembly passes the bill against beef sale and then even if Indian Parliament ratifies it, the order will still have no acceptability in the Muslim majority state," he shared…
Amaresh Misra works as Editor, News 786
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