india

Updated: Sep 29, 2019 15:13 IST

Former Congress chief of the Tripura unit and the scion of the Manikya dynasty Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman took to Twitter on Sunday to announce that he would move the Supreme Court to challenge the Tripura high court’s ban on animal sacrifices in temples.

“Moving the SC to challenge the order of the Tripura High Court on the ban of Animal Sacrifice in our temples. While I believe that opulence and mass slaughter of animals in temples is not required, the HC cannot interfere in customs, culture and have gone beyond their jurisdiction,” Pradyot Kishore tweeted.

Pradyot recently resigned from the Congress party’s membership and its Tripura unit chief following difference over his petition in the Supreme Court on updating National registrar of Citizens (NRC) in Tripura.

The verdict on ban on animal sacrifices was given by High Court’s Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjoy Karol and justice Arindam Lodh on September 27 in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one retired judge Subhash Bhattacharjee in 2018.

The judgment order said, “No person including the State shall be allowed to sacrifice any animal/bird within the precincts of any one of the temples within the State of Tripura…”

The court also ordered the district magistrates of Gomati and West districts to ensure implementation of the orders at Tripureswari Temple iand Chaturdas Devata Bari Temple located in their jurisdiction. The court also asked to install cameras at these two temples where act of animal sacrifices are carried out profusely, located in their jurisdictions.

The government wants to discuss the high court order before deciding its next step.

“We will discuss about the High Court order on the matter. We will also discuss what the High Court asked the state government to do. After considering all aspects, we will come to a conclusion. Prior that, it is not worthy to say anything on this issue,” Tripura’s law minister Ratan Lal Nath said.

According to an agreement signed in 1949 that merged Tripura with the Union India, the state government sponsors animal sacrifices in many temples.