Indian court questions misuse of cow slaughter laws
Allahabad High Court demands accountability from police in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, where cow protection laws enable Hindutva-linked vigilantism
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — The Allahabad High Court has strongly criticized the widespread misuse of India’s cow protection laws in Uttar Pradesh, a northern state governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and directed senior police and home officials to explain why false and politically motivated cases are being routinely filed under them.
The bench of Justices Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary and Abdul Moin said that police across Uttar Pradesh were “casually invoking” the Cow Slaughter Act and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to file frivolous criminal complaints under the pretext of cow protection.
The court has ordered the Director General of Police (DGP) and the Principal Secretary (Home) to file personal affidavits by November 7 detailing proposed disciplinary measures against officers responsible for such misuse.
According to The Indian Express, the hearing stemmed from a case in Pratapgarh, a district in northern India, where a man named Rahul Yadav was charged with slaughter even though the nine calves he was transporting were found alive. The court ruled that cattle transportation is not a crime under state law and described the charge of slaughter as “false and frivolous.”
The judges noted that hundreds of similar cases are clogging the judicial system, wasting valuable time and resources. “The matter cannot be treated as simple,” the bench observed. “This court is deluged with cases where FIRs are being filed left and right under provisions of the Act.”
The court also linked the misuse of cow-related laws to a growing culture of mob vigilantism and religious violence, saying, “Violence, lynching and vigilantism is the order of the day.” It referred to a recent incident where vigilantes stopped a man’s car under the pretext of cow protection, after which he went missing.
The ruling invoked the Supreme Court’s 2018 guidelines that directed state governments and police departments to take strict preventive and punitive action against cow vigilante mobs, which have largely operated with impunity under India’s Hindutva political establishment.
In recent years, Uttar Pradesh—India’s most populous state and a stronghold of Hindu nationalism under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a monk-turned-politician known for his hardline anti-Muslim rhetoric—has seen a sharp rise in cases filed under cow protection laws.
Human rights groups say these laws are routinely weaponized against Muslim cattle traders, transporters, and butchers, often accompanied by mob attacks or extrajudicial killings.
The court’s intervention marks a rare judicial acknowledgment of the ideological and institutional bias embedded in the state’s policing practices. Analysts say the order underscores how cow protection has evolved from a religious sentiment into an instrument of political control and persecution under India’s Hindutva regime.
The case will next be heard on November 7, when the state’s top police and home officials must appear before the court if their affidavits are not submitted.
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
