New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking a nationwide ban on cow slaughter. The apex court dismissed an activist’s proposal to prohibit the slaughter of cows across India, a measure that would have effectively banned beef consumption in the nation of 1.25 billion. “One state may ban slaughter, the other may not,” the court said in rejecting the petition. “We will not interfere in state laws.”Several radical religious groups, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have long campaigned to implement a nationwide ban on cow slaughter. The BJP won national elections in 2014 with a thumping majority, pledging in part to ban cow slaughter.

Source: Mint January 27, 2017 16:59 UTC