Agartala, September 28, 2019: In a landmark judgment, the Tripura High Court has banned the centuries-old tradition of animals sacrifice in religious places in the northeastern state, while the state government is likely to file a petition against the judgment before the Supreme Court, top officials said here on Saturday.
Tripura’s Advocate General Arun Kanti Bhowmik told IANS that the state government after studying the High Court verdict more probably will file a petition before the Supreme Court against the judgment.
Tripura royal family leaders said that the High Court cannot overrule the provisions of the merger agreement which was signed on October 15, 1949 between regent Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi and the Governor-General of India.
A Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Arindam Lodh banning the animals sacrifice in religious places in Tripura, in a landmark judgement on late Friday said : “No person including the state shall be allowed to sacrifice of any animal or bird within the precincts of any of the temples within the state of Tripura.”
Flashback: At the end of the 1355-year-rule by 184 kings, on October 15, 1949, the erstwhile princely state of Tripura came under the control of the Indian government after a merger agreement was signed between regent Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi and the Indian Governor-General.
The merger agreement made it mandatory for the Tripura government to continue the sponsorship (including sacrifice of animals at government expenditure) of several traditional tribal pujas and 14 temples, including the Mata Tripura Sundari Temple run by the Hindu princely rulers.
This continued for around seven decades. A full-fledged department – Public Place of Worship (PPW) or ‘Debarchan Vibhaga’ functioning under district magistrates in four of Tripura’s eight districts now have this responsibility and bears the entire expenditure of these temples in Tripura.
Tripura’s royal family scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman said that he is personally against cruelty to animals but the High Court cannot overrule the provisions of the merger agreement signed on October 15, 1949.
“Before delivering the verdict, the High Court should consult with the stakeholders and civil society. The Court should not intervene into the traditional social, cultural and religious belief,” Deb Barman told IANS. (IANS)
