Kerala HC rejects review petition against judgment upholding bar on animal sacrifice

The Kerala High Court Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji Chaly has rejected a Review Petition against its judgment upholding the validity of the Kerala Animals and Bird Sacrifices Prohibition Act, 1968 (Muraleedharan T. and Anr. v. State of Kerala and Ors.)..Two litigants Muraleedharan T and Vimal CV, had unsuccessfully challenged the Kerala Animals and Bird Sacrifices Prohibition Act, 1968 in the Kerala High Court. The Kerala High Court had upheld the legislation’s validity in June this year..On Tuesday, the same Bench of the High Court dismissed a Review Petition filed by the petitioners against the said judgment..In their review plea, Muraleedharan and Vimal contended that the Kerala High Court had failed to consider their arguments challenging the law as being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution..The petitioners said that the inequality perpetuated by the law in question vis-à-vis the Hindu community as against other religions with the same set of practices was “overlooked by the Court.”.The petitioners argued that the Court had made its pronouncement on the “wrong premise” that the above submission was not pressed..Additionally, the petitioners claimed that their submissions regarding animal sacrifices being an “essential Hindu religious practice” for adherents to the tantric and even Vedic texts were not considered. The judgment interfered with an “essential Hindu practice” it was stated..In their case for review, Muraleedharan and Vimal argued that they as “Hindus” were being discriminated against in the practice of their religion. This was not factored into the Court’s June ruling, they claimed..The Bench was invited to peruse the Special Leave Petition filed in the Supreme Court against the High Court’s June judgment that assailed it on the same grounds raised in the review. That petition was not preferred by Muraleedharan and Vimal, however..Taking note of the Special Leave Petition, the High Court found that notice was issued to Muraleedharan’s and Vimal’s counsel as well, along with other respondents..Further, that petition specifically raised the question of equality under the Constitution, the Bench observed..The Court went on to point out that the counsel for the petitioners had not pressed their challenge to the Act’s inherent inequality earlier. .In this regard, the Court also drew attention to the arguments pressed by one of the interlocutory applicants, who specifically submitted that the petitioners’ counsel had not made submissions under Article 14 of the Constitution..The Court, thus, dismissed the review plea, holding that “it would not be desirable for the Court to delve into the matter at this stage.".“In view of the above, we are not inclined to accept the prayer sought for by the review petitioners in this review petition.”Kerala High Court.Advocate P Sathisan represented the review petitioners and Government Pleader Surin George Ipe and Additional Solicitor General P Vijayakumar appeared for the State..The Special Leave Petition assailing the High Court's June judgment is pending consideration before the Supreme Court. .Supreme Court seeks Kerala government's response in plea challenging law against animal sacrifice in Hindu temples.The petitioners therein challenge the Animal Sacrifice Prohibition Act as violative of Article 14 and claim that their impleadment application was not considered by the High Court. .This petition has been tagged with two other cases on the same issue from Tripura and Himachal Pradesh. .Muraleedharan and Vimal are respondents in the Special Leave Petition as well..Read the Kerala High Court's Order here: