Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS) 

Bengaluru, Aug 30: Chief minister B S Yediyurappa is under intense pressure from the 'Gaurakshaks' to ban the slaughter of cows in the state. Owing to the pressure, the ruling BJP has formed an internal team, which will study the laws pertaining to the prohibition of cow slaughter that is in place in some other states of the country. 

In 2010, the then BJP government led by Yediyurappa had placed a blanket ban on the slaughter of cattle in the state. However, the same was abolished by the Congress party led by Siddaramaiah in 2013. 

Now the BJP unit of Karnataka has formed a team of legal experts to look into the laws that are in place in other states, in which there is ban on the slaughter of cows. 

C T Ravi

This action is taken by the party after Basangouda Patil Yatnal, BJP MLA of Vijayapura and BJP Gau Samrakshana Prakoshta have put pressure by sending petitions to the government to re-enforce the cow slaughter prevention bill and strengthen its provisions. 

C T Ravi, minister for tourism, Kannada and culture said, "A team, comprising six or seven legal experts, will make a tour of different states and study the laws that are similar to the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act of 2010. They will study the Acts and then a report of the same will be submitted to the government," 

"The aim of the study tour is to take the provisions that are in force in other states and then include the same in the new bill that the government is proposing to pass," said minister Ravi. 

Yediyurappa-led BJP government had passed a bill in 2010, despite stiff opposition from the Congress party in the name of Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, that was similar to the one that was in force in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. 

The bill introduced by BJP in 2010 had put a blanket ban on cow slaughter, which had severe penalty clauses for its violation. 

The bill that was intended to be brought into implementation was with the President of India for assent, when the newly formed government of Siddaramaiah withdrew the same in 2013 and restored the 1964 Act, which allowed the slaughter of bulls, bullocks and buffaloes if they were over the age of 12 years or if they were unfit for breeding or did not give milk. 

The state BJP has rebuked Siddaramaiah for withdrawing the bill in 2013 and has urged the chief minister Yediyurappa to re-enact the bill and prevent the cattle slaughter in Karnataka.