The Assam Legislative Assembly legislated the ‘Assam Cattle Preservation Bill, 2021’ (which substitutes the existing Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 1950) amid complete chaos in the House as the opposition staged a protest as their demand to send the bill to a select panel was not met.
As per the provisions of this Bill, which aims to “regulate slaughter, consumption & transportation of cattle”, the Cows would be permitted to be slaughtered only with Government’s prior approval and that too, only in authorised slaughterhouses.
The Bill also aims to ban beef sales within a five-kilometre radius of temples, extras, or areas where non-beef eating communities have a majority. Also, Cows younger than 14 years and calves can’t be slaughtered.
The advanced law also prevents the internal transport of cattle to and from, as well as through Assam without authentic documents. Unlike anti-slaughter laws now in place in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh which cover only cow progeny and not buffaloes, this bill does not specify between cattle types, it includes both.
