Rajasthan HC:Make cow the national animal

New Delhi, May 31: The Rajasthan high court on Wednesday recommended the Centre to declare cow as the national animal of India.

The court further suggested that anyone guilty of cow slaughter should be sentenced to life, a steep escalation from the present three years' imprisonment.

The judge, Mahesh Chandra Sharma, was giving judgment on a petition against the way a cow shelter near state capital Jaipur has been managed when he made the observations.



The comments come amid protests in several other states against the Centre's new restrictions on sale and slaughter of cattle. Governments in states like West Bengal and Kerala have refused to implement the new rules pointing out that they have the right to frame their own laws on animal slaughter. They have accused the Centre of infringing on states' powers to frame their own laws on animal slaughter.

The Centre has used animal cruelty rules, which can be enforced nationally, to order that animal markets will only be able to trade cattle for agricultural purposes such as ploughing and dairy production.