Jain groups urge authorities to seal the India-Nepal border to prevent the illegal transport of animals for sacrifices at the Gadhimai Festival in Nepal | Representational Image
Mumbai: Jains have joined animal rights activists in the campaign to stop the mass sacrifice of animals at the festival at Gadhimai temple in Bariyarpur, Nepal, on December 8 and 9.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Ministers of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Nitish Kumar, and Yogi Aditya Nath on Thursday, the Vishwa Jain Sangathan, to seal the India-Nepal border to ensure that animals meant for sacrifices at the festival are not transported from India to Nepal.
Sanjay Jain, national president of Vishwa Jain Sangathan, said that the government should enforce rules prohibiting unlicensed cattle trading across the border.
Despite protests by animal rights activists, an estimated 2.5 to 3 lakh animals could be killed, with approximately 70% of the animals coming from India. The Supreme Court of India, in its order in Gauri Maulekhi vs Union of India, stated that the illegal transport of animals across the border violates the export policy.
The operative portion of that order reads: Our attention has been drawn to Section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, which authorises the Central Government to formulate the export/import policy, said Vishwa Jain Sangathan.
The group said that the transport of animals also violated the Articles of the Constitution relating to the rights of animals, and laws like the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Transport of Animals Rules, Slaughterhouse Rules, 2001, SPCA Rules, 2001, Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Food Safety Act, 2006, Prevention and Control of Contagious and Infectious Diseases, 2009, apart from other regulations.
“Given the above, we direct the respondents to ensure that no live cattle and buffaloes are exported out of India into Nepal, but under license. Given these facts, the sacrifices at the Gadhimai festival are detrimental to our nation’s animal wealth,” said Jain.
“We urge your office to deploy police and paramilitary forces (such as BSF and SSB) to seal the India-Nepal border, particularly in vulnerable districts of Bihar and UP, to prevent illegal animal crossings. Failure to protect the borders shall amount to contempt of court.”
The festival has provoking international outrage, with animal rights organisations campaigning against it. Activists have said that the apex court in Nepal delivered a landmark judgment on August 4, 2016 to stop this brutal practice. Yet the killing of animals continue.
So we request you to please issue an order to seal Bharat Nepal border till 9th Dec 2024 to prevent illegal trafficking of animals for brutal killing of innocent and non spoken animals during Gadhimai festival on 8-9 December 2024 at Bharat- Nepal border, the Jain groups said .
