Bombay High Court directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to make sure that no illegal animal slaughter takes place during the Bakrid celebration in a south Mumbai residential community.
Bakrid or Eid-al-Adha will be celebrated on Thursday. In a special urgent hearing held after the regular court hours, a division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain said slaughtering can be permitted at Nathani Heights society only if licence is granted by the civic body.
In the event, the Municipal Corporation has not issued a licence to undertake slaughtering of animals at the said place, the officers of the Municipal Corporation with the aid of the police personnel shall take appropriate action in accordance with law to prevent slaughtering of animals proposed for tomorrow, the court said.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by one Haresh Jain, a resident of the society, seeking complete ban on slaughtering of animals there. Advocate Joel Carlos, appearing for the BMC, said a complete ban cannot be issued. Carlos said the civic body's officers would inspect the society premises and if there is any violation then appropriate action would be taken.