A judge of a division bench of the Bombay High Court today recused himself from hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the beef ban in Maharashtra, saying he had once expressed his views on the subject in an article when he was a lawyer.
"Not before a bench of which I am part of," said Justice Gautam Patel, who was sitting with senior Judge of the High Court, Justice Abhay Oka.
Justice Patel told the advocates appearing in the case that in 2012, when he was a lawyer, he had written an article in a newspaper expressing his view after the Karnataka Government proposed to pass a law banning beef in the state and would hence recuse himself from hearing the petitions.
Acting Chief Justice V K Tahilramani would now constitute a special bench comprising Justice Oka and another junior judge to hear the petitions.
In February 2015, the President had granted sanction to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act. While the Act had banned slaughter of cows way back in 1976, the recent amendments prohibited slaughter of bulls and bullocks.
According to the amended Act, the sale of bulls and bullocks in the state is an offence punishable with five-year jail term and Rs 10000 fine. Also, possession of meat of cow, bull or bullock is also an offence for which the punishment prescribed is one year jail and Rs 2000 fine.
While hearing the petitions, the HC had in April refused to grant an interim stay on the law on the issue of possession of beef.
Arif Kapadia, a city resident, and lawyer Harish Jagtiani, challenged this provision of law which says mere possession of beef in any place in the state is a crime.
According to Jagtiani, this provision of law is arbitrary and hits upon the cosmopolitan nature of the city, which houses people from all religions and communities.
