After the Bombay High Court rescinded a ban on possession of beef in the Indian state of Maharashtra, the state government has appealed to the Supreme Court and a hearing was scheduled for Friday.
In January, the Bombay High Court upheld the beef ban imposed by the state government with the enactment of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, which bans the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, ANI reported. However, the high court said that mere possession of the meat cannot be considered a crime and struck down the relevant sections of the Act.
Slaughtering cows and selling beef was banned in Maharashtra in 1976, but the new law extends the ban to include calves, bulls and bullocks.