NEW DELHI: The SC faced a difficult situation while hearing a PIL which sought to stop the export and smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh. The top court said, “When you don’t have enough people to be deployed to stop infiltration of terrorists, how can we ask that forces be deployed to stop smuggling of cattle?”
The court was initially disinclined to pass any direction in this regard but later agreed to tag the matter with another PIL in which it had passed an order directing that there shall be no export of live cattle and buffaloes to Nepal on the eve of the Gandhi Mai Mela. As the hearing started, the court said, “If the BSF is asked to work for (stopping smuggling of) cows, what about terrorists. Who will stop them?”
A Bench, comprising Justices J S Khehar and S A Bobde, decided to entertain the PIL filed by the Akhil Bharat Krishi Goseva Sangh after senior advocate Soli J Sorabjee submitted that the matter of serious concern.
He said that there has been a depletion in indigenous livestock and smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh through Indian borders is continuing uninterruptedly. “To succeed, you have to show that the export of cows is illegal,” the Bench said.