Bombay High Court Allows Sacrifice Within Vishalgad Fort On Eid-ul-Adha

The Bombay High Court has allowed the sacrifice of animals on Eid-ul-Adha (Bakrid) and Urs at a dargah within the precincts of Vishalgad Fort of Kolhapur. The order was passed on a petition by Hajrat Peer Malik Rehan Mira Saheb Dargah, a registered trust, challenging the communication issued by the Deputy Director of Archaeology and Museums to the District Collector of Kolhapur, imposing a ban on animal slaughter in the fort area.

Petitioner’s advocates SB Talekar and Madhavi Ayyappan submitted that certain persons had recently started spoiling the communal atmosphere and social harmony in the area by creating religious conflict for political gains. The practice of animal sacrifice for cooking and consumption of food in closed premises was neither banned nor objected to by anyone for years. 

The communication banned animal sacrifice stating that as per the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act there is a ban on cooking food in the protected area near the monument. 

The plea contended that the authorities had purportedly taken the decision on the basis of a 1998 judgment of the Aurangabad bench of the HC which held that animal sacrifice in the name of gods and goddesses in public places was strictly prohibited.

The trust contended that these offerings were served to pilgrims and others at the dargah and were a source of food for people living in the nearby villages.