Paryushan Parv festival: HC asks civic bodies to consider Jain trust’s plea for temporary ban on animal slaughter

Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday directed the civic bodies in Maharashtra to urgently consider and decide the representations made by a Jain public charitable trust seeking a temporary ban on animal slaughter and sale of meat in view of the community’s annual religious observance ‘Paryushan Parv’.
The Sheth Motishaw Lalbaug Jain Charities had filed a petition in the high court seeking a direction to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the civic bodies of Pune, Mira Bhayandar and Nashik to expeditiously decide on the representation made by them.
The trust said it sought a ban on animal slaughter and sale of its meat from August 31 to September 7.
Senior advocate BN Chatterji, appearing on behalf of the charities contended that the globally observed festival marked a period of “spiritual reflection, self-purification, fasting, meditation and non-violence.” It also highlighted various aspects of Jain belief, including ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence). The plea said if animal slaughter takes place during the Paryushan Parv, then it would be detrimental to the cause of Jainism.
A division bench of chief justice D K Upadhyaya and justice Amit Borkar said it does not see any impediment in directing the civic bodies to decide the representation made by the trust.
“The Jain community constitutes a sizable population in Maharashtra. The community is aggrieved by the ‘conduct’ of the respondent authorities in not deciding the representations. The issue affects the religious sentiments of the community,” stated the bench and added, “We accordingly direct the authorities to decide the representation of the petitioner seeking to impose a temporary ban on the slaughtering of animals and sale of meat during (from) August 31 to September 7. We urge the civic bodies to take a decision urgently since the festival commences from (on) August 31.”
The trust in its plea said members of the Jain community were forced to witness animal slaughter during the period of Paryushan Parv.