SRINAGAR: In a major embarrassment for the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir, it has been revealed that State’s Deputy Advocate General Parmikosh Seth had filed the petition on which High Court division bench recently ordered ban on sale of beef in the Muslim-majority state of the country. Kashmir observed complete shutdown on Saturday in response to the strike called by separatists against the beef ban, while authorities imposed curfew-like restrictions in parts of city to foil protests against the beef ban. Parimkosh had filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in High Court, Jammu wing in 2014 and prayed that a ban on cow slaughter in the State be enforced.
In his plea, he had stated that in spite of the fact that penal provisions of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) making slaughtering or killing of bovine animals in J&K an offence punishable under section 298-A, and possession of slaughtered animal punishable under section 298-B of the RPC, the slaughtering is rampant in the State with the active connivance of authorities. It was on his plea that a division bench of the J&K High Court comprising Justice Dheeraj Singh Thakur and Justice Janak Raj Kotwal on Wednesday ordered ban on sale of beef and directed J&K DGP to ensure that appropriate directions are issued to all SSPs/SPs/SHOs for enforcement of the ban.
The RPC was enacted in 1862 by the then Dogra Maharaja of the State. Section 298 A and section 298 B of RPC of the 1932 amendment makes slaughter of cows and bovine animals punishable with up to 10 years of imprisonment besides fine.
The ban on slaughtering of bovine animals, however, has not been enforced in the State by law enforcing agencies.
BJP spokesman Arun Gupta told Express that Parimkosh had filed the petition in 2014 and was not Deputy Advocate General then. He along with five other lawyers were appointed as Deputy AG for the Jammu wing of the High Court by State’s Law Ministry on April 24 this year.
When asked whether it is not a conflicting situation that Deputy AG is filing a case against the government, Gupta said, “There is nothing like that. The case was not filed after he became Deputy AG but before that”.