A vacation bench of the Calcutta High Court noted that since religious practices in East India differed from those in North India, it would not be realistic to call for a restriction on practices that might have formed an “essential religious practice” for many communities.

A division bank of Justices Biswajit Basu and Ajay Kumar Gupta heard an ongoing plea from the Akhil Bharatiya Go Sevak Sangh, which sought to curb animal sacrifice at the Bolla Kali Temple in Kolkata on the occasion of ‘Bolla Kali Puja’.

Last year, a division bench headed by Chief Justice TS Sivagananam was also approached by the incumbent to prohibit the alleged slaughter of 10,000 goats on the occasion of Bolla Kali Puja.

On that occasion, the bank had refused any provisional aid to stop the slaughter of animals. However, the bench agreed to consider the larger issue of the validity of animal sacrifice in West Bengal.

At the present hearing, the petitioners again requested urgent relief to prevent the slaughter of the animals, which is due to take place on Friday.

However, the Bench noted that despite claims that animal sacrifice was not an essential religious practice, what constitutes an essential practice would be very different between North India and East India.

“It is in dispute whether the mythical characters were really vegetarian or non-vegetarian,“, remarked the Bank.

Observing that such general restriction cannot be ordered due to impossibility of implementation and without a clear case made out by the petitioners, the tribunal refused the interim measures and listed the matter for hearing before the ordinary court.