KATHMANDU: A man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in Nepal on charges of slaughtering cows, the Hindu majority nation's national animal.
Information Officer Tek Raj Gaire of District Court Arghakhanchi said that a single bench of judge Ram Chandra Poudel issued the verdict against Yam Bahadur Khatri of Bhotepokhara for killing three cows.
Khatri's neighbour Baldev Bhat had lodged the complaint against him.
In Nepal, slaughtering of a cow has been prohibited by law.
Nepal became a secular state in 2008.
Cow, which is sacred to the Hindus, was declared the national animal of Nepal in 2015 in the country's secular Constitution.