The new legislation will repeal the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 1950 and aims for regulating “slaughter, consumption, illegal transportation” of cattle. It also prohibits the inter-state transport of cattle to and from, as well as through Assam without valid documents — a clause that was included ostensibly to check cattle smuggling to Bangladesh, which shares a 263-kilometre-long border with Assam.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had introduced the Bill in the Assembly on July 12, saying that the 1950 Act lacked “sufficient legal provisions” to regulate slaughter, consumption and the transportation of cattle and thus it was imperative to enact a new legislation.
Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia of Congress said that the legislation would affect the livelihoods of the “poorest of the poor” and thus it needed to be referred to a select committee for further discussions.
AIUDF MLA from Dhing, Aminul Islam also pushed for several amendments, saying that according to a 2020 survey, there were 1,09,09,327 cows in Assam. “So cows are not even endangered…that it calls for such a tough legislation to protect them,” he said, adding that there will be “huge socio-economic losses to those who rear cows.” He also added that the 5km rule was as good as saying that there should be no beef consumption/cow slaughter in the entire state.
“We appreciate the spirit behind the clause that says there should be no slaughter where non-beef eating communities reside. But the 5 km rule is problematic. There is no place in Assam that will fulfill these conditions. The government might as well have said that the slaughter is banned across the state,” he said.
Sarma said that the 5 km rule won’t apply to all “kinds of temples.” “There will be rules…this will only apply to temples that exist as on date, when the Bill is being passed. It does not mean that if someone just identifies a spot near a tree and calls it a ‘temple’, it will come under the purview of this clause. We will have rules that will define what kind of temple…temples that are centuries-old, temples which may come up in places where there is archaeological evidence and so on…”
Sarma said that the legislation is intended to increase harmony and brotherhood between the communities, and was not aimed at “restricting anyone from eating beef.”
Sarma, however, accepted an amendment moved by AIUDF’s Islam to remove ‘buffaloes’ from the definition in the Bill. When it was proposed, the Bill did not distinguish between different cattle types and had said it would apply to all cattle that includes “bulls, bullocks, cows, heifer, calves, male and female buffaloes and buffalo calves.” After the amendment, buffaloes will be removed from the definition.
Responding to Congress’s opposition, Sarma said that the first Chief Minister of Assam Gopinath Bordoloi (from Congress) had introduced the Act in 1950.
The new law also says that anybody found guilty can be jailed for a minimum term of three years (extendable up to eight years) and fined Rs 3 lakh (with the upper limit Rs 5 lakh), or both. For repeat offenders, the punishment will be doubled. However, it allows for certain exemptions — it won’t apply to “religious occasions” when “slaughter of cattle, not being a cow or heifer or calf” is allowed.