The Court was hearing a PIL seeking a ban on the sacrifice of more than 10,000 animals at Kolkata’s Bolla Raksha Kali Temple on Friday.
The Calcutta High Court on Monday remarked that it would be unrealistic to expect all of Eastern India to adopt veganism.
A vacation bench of Justices Biswajit Basu and Ajay Kumar Gupta made the observation while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on the sacrifice of more than 10,000 animals at Kolkata’s Bolla Raksha Kali Temple on Friday.
“One thing is clear, if it is ultimately a goal to make all of Eastern part of India vegan, this is not…The Advocate General cannot live without a piece of fish everyday!”
Appearing for the State, Advocate General (AG) Kishore Datta agreed, saying,
“I am strictly non-vegetarian!”
In response, the counsel said that symbolic sacrifice can happen, but there is no need to sacrifice more than 10,000 animals in a day.
“You cannot restrict it in that way…it may shock our conscience because I know persons who eat chicken but cannot see killing of chickens for offerings,” the Court said.
AG Datta contended that the petition lacked public interest. He pointed out rulings from the Supreme Court that indicated that only legislation, not court orders, can impose a ban on religious sacrifices. He also highlighted Section 28 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, which allows killing of animals as part of the religion of any community.
The petitioner’s counsel then said that pollution from these sacrifices raised environmental concerns.
To this, the Bench said that if environmental harm results from the practice, the State would need to address it.