Cow should be declared as the national animal of India, the Allahabad High Court said on Wednesday. According to LiveLaw, the court also said that cow protection be made a fundamental right of Hindus.The court said that the right to life is above the right to kill and the right to eat beef can never be considered a fundamental right, the report stated. "The cow is useful even when she is old and sick, and her dung and urine are very useful for agriculture, making of medicines, and most of all, the one who is worshipped as a mother even is she gets old or sick. No one can be given the right to kill her," the court was quoted as saying in the report.
Further, it said: "Not only Hindus have understood the importance of cows, Muslims have also considered the cow as an important part of India's culture during their reign. Slaughter of cows was banned by 5 Muslim rulers. Babur, Humayun and Akbar also prohibited the sacrifice of cows in their religious festivals. The Nawab of Mysore, Hyder Ali, made cow slaughter a punishable offence. According to Bar and Bench, the court remarked on the functioning gaushalas in Uttar Pradesh. The court said: “Government gets gau shalas constructed, but the people who have to take care of the cow do not take care of the cows. Similarly, the private gau-shalas have also become a mere sham today in which people take donations from the public and help from the government in the name of cow promotion, but spend it for their own interest and do not care of the cow.”