The Meghalaya High Court recently directed the state government to prohibit the display of animal carcasses at meat shops while allowing them to be stored in refrigerators, containers, or even showcases within the premises but not visible to the public from the outside.
These directives were passed by a bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Gau Gyan Foundation regarding the treatment of animals culled for human consumption and their transportation of animals across the State.
Observing that, despite the existence of central enactments and local regulations, and the petitioner demonstrating that most guidelines and norms were not being followed and local level committees were not functioning, the bench hoped that such lapses had been addressed and that the State would ensure a more ethical treatment of animals, even if they were culled for human consumption.
Concerning how animal carcasses were brazenly displayed on streetside shops, sometimes complete with beheaded heads of pigs in open view, the bench observed that the State has been repeatedly advised that such sight may not be appealing even to the most carnivorous of humans, and some measures have been taken to ensure that such displays are restrained, if not entirely prohibited.
“However, on the ground, it does not appear that there has been any effect of any guidelines or instructions issued by the State in such regard. Streetside shops selling meat display animal carcasses with impunity,” the bench stated.
The bench closed the PIL by concluding that the State should ensure the ethical treatment of animals across the board, including those culled for human consumption and those used as farm animals, while taking on record the status report filed by the respondents regarding several of the initiatives and measures taken by the State and the petitioner’s satisfaction on the same.
