AHMEDABAD: Innocent animals cannot be sacrificed for public comfort, the Gujarat High Court said on Tuesday on the death of 30 cows that were impounded and kept in a cattle pound as per the state government’s policy to address the stray cattle menace.
The division bench of Justices Ashutosh Shastri and Hemant Prachchhak said the photograph of carcasses of cows dumped in an open land belonging to the Nadiad Municipal Corporation was “very disturbing and shocking”.
The court took on record an affidavit filed by Nadiad resident Maulik Shrimali in a contempt of court plea over a PIL seeking its direction to curb cattle menace.
Shrimali, in his affidavit, stated that he came across carcasses of 30 cows butchered and thrown in an open parcel of land probably belonging to the Nadiad Municipal Corporation after reading a news report about the deaths of the animals in a cattle pound.
The court then instructed the district collector to probe the issue and submit a report, providing details about cattle pounds set up for stray cattle and treatment the animals are given there.
It also asked the government to provide the number of operational cattle pounds and whether the regular needs of cattle were met at these facilities.
The state government had earlier informed the court that it issued a circular formulating a policy/guideline on August 21, 2023, to prevent the stray cattle menace in eight municipal corporations and 157 municipality areas, and all the urban bodies have been directed to comply with it.