Indian court gives life sentences to three Muslims for cow slaughter

NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A court in India’s western state of Gujarat has sentenced three Muslim men to life imprisonment for cow slaughter — one of the harshest penalties ever handed down under the state’s animal preservation law, underscoring how the politics of cow protection has become a tool of religious persecution in the country.

The sessions court in Amreli district on Tuesday found Kasim Solanki, Sattar Solanki, and Akram Solanki guilty under the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act, which bans the slaughter of animals belonging to the cow family. 

Judge Rizvana Bukhari imposed life sentences and a collective fine of more than 1.8 million Indian rupees (about $21,600).

According to local officials, police had arrested the men in November 2023 after receiving a complaint that they had slaughtered a cow in Baharpara, Mota Khatkiwad, and disposed of its remains in a drain. 

Investigators later raided a nearby house and claimed to have recovered 40 kilograms of meat, knives, weighing scales, and animal remains.

Special Public Prosecutor Chandresh Mehta told reporters this was the first time three people were handed life imprisonment in a single cow slaughter case in Gujarat, a state governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

State minister Jitu Vaghani hailed the ruling as “historic,” saying it sent a strong message to those “hurting Hindu sentiments.” He added that “cows are at the centre of Indian culture and faith,” pledging the government would “show no mercy” in such cases.

But legal experts and rights advocates say the sentence exposes a deeper crisis in India’s secular democracy — where dietary practices have become entangled with religious identity. 

Beef, which is legally consumed in several southern and northeastern states, as well as by millions across the world, has been turned into a political weapon in northern India, where Hindu nationalist governments have criminalized slaughter and even possession.

Under India’s constitution, citizens are guaranteed freedom of religion and personal choice, yet cow-related vigilantism and state crackdowns have overwhelmingly targeted Muslims and Dalits, often with deadly consequences. 

Human rights groups have documented numerous lynchings, assaults, and arrests linked to cow protection campaigns, many of them carried out with impunity.

Analysts say Tuesday’s verdict is another example of how Hindu majoritarian politics continues to reshape India’s legal and moral order — imposing religious taboos on an officially secular republic.

For Muslims in Gujarat, the ruling reinforces a grim message: in a country that claims pluralism, what one eats can determine whether one walks free — or spends life behind bars.