The Maharashtra government has moved the Supreme Court, seeking to revive a section of a law that makes storing beef at home an offence, The Times of India reported on Friday. The court is scheduled to hear the case later in the day.
Section 5D of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995, lets a police officer stop and search a person suspected of carrying cow, buffalo or bullock meat and also enter homes to carry out searches. Those accused of possessing beef could prove their innocence under Section 9B of the legislation.
The Bombay High Court had struck down both sections in 2015 following protests from various quarters of society. Maharashtra’s appeal claims says that the High Court had quashed the sections erroneously by holding privacy a fundamental right. Referring to the ongoing debate in the Supreme Court over Aadhaar and the right to privacy, the state government said privacy was not a fundamental right at the time of the judgement.
“The High Court failed to appreciate the law in its correct perspective, besides failing to observe judicial discipline,” the state said in its appeal.
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