For two months: Indian SC suspends order barring sale of beef in Kashmir

Chief justice directed to set up a three-judge bench to decide on two conflicting judgments

The Indian Supreme Court on Monday suspended for two months a controversial court order enforcing a legal bar on the sale of beef in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir state while asking the chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court to set up a three-judge bench to decide on two conflicting orders on the issue.

A bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu directed that the September 8 order of the Jammu bench of the High Court, by which it had ordered enforcement of bar on sale of beef in the state in pursuance of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) provisions, be kept in abeyance for two months.

The bench also referred to the order passed by another division bench of the high court at Srinagar which issued a notice on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) demanding scrapping of the RPC provision, PTI reported.

The bench, also comprising Justice Amitava Roy, said, “Since there are conflicting expressions given by two division benches of the high court, we request the learned Chief Justice to constitute a bench of three learned judges to take a decision on the writ petitions.”

Asking the apex court registry to intimate its counterpart about the order ‘forthwith’, the court further said that the chief justice of the high court will be at liberty to decide the place where the larger bench will hear and deliberate over the two writ petitions.

The bench disposed of the petition filed by the state government which had said that the inconsistent views of the two benches of the high court were being ‘misused’ to disturb peace and communal harmony in the state.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2015.