New Delhi August 18Amid a shocking rise in incidents of cow vigilantism, which provoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a public statement condemning such incidents recently, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea to criminalise the possession of beef. The decision comes in the wake of an NGO, Akhil Bharat Krishi Goseva Sangh, challenging an earlier verdict by Bombay High Court, which had ruled to the contrary.

In March 2015, the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra had banned slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks in the state. It had also criminalised possession of beef, no matter where it had come from. Slaughter of bovines may be punished with a five-year jail term and a fine of Rs 10,000, while possession of bovine meat is punishable by up to one year in prison and a penalty of Rs 2,000.

On 6 May 2016, Bombay High Court had quashed the Maharashtra government’s decision to criminalise possession of beef brought into the state from outside, while upholding the ban on the slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks in the state.