Gujrat ups penalty for cow slaughter to life imprisonment

Leader of India’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and Gujrat Chief Minister Vijay Ruapni has said cow slaughtering and transporting beef will soon be punishable by a life sentence, The Guardian reported.

The government is set to introduce a bill in the coming week to extend the punishment for butchering cows. The current punishment for slaughtering a cow is INR50,000 and up to seven years imprisonment.



“We want to make this law stricter.” Rupani said, whose party has long been advocating strict punishment for cow slaughter in India.

“In the bill, we will make a provision wherein people found involved in cow-slaughtering as well as transportation of beef will be punished with life imprisonment. Their vehicles too will be seized permanently.”

Since Narendra Modi became the prime minister, scores of Indian states have been intensifying the punishment for butchering cows. The Gujrat chief minister was elected on the manifesto which campaigned for outlawing slaughter of the holy animal.



At present, only eight of 29 states in India allow beef consumption.

With the support of right-wing rhetoric in India, gangs of self-proclaimed "cow protectors" now roam around in northern India and are accused of fanning religiously-motivated violence against Muslims and other cow-eating communities.