Cow protection laws
Laws that restrict or prohibit the slaughter of cattle, found in most Indian states and in Nepal.
Also: cow slaughter laws, cattle preservation acts
Article 48 of the Indian Constitution, among the directive principles of state policy, asks the state to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern lines and to take steps to prohibit the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle. Since animal husbandry is a state subject, each state makes its own law, and they differ widely: some ban the slaughter of all cattle, others allow older or unproductive cattle to be slaughtered under a certificate, as in West Bengal, and some, including Kerala and several states of the Northeast, have no such ban. Nepal, where the cow is the national animal, also prohibits slaughter. The laws are widely discussed, and views differ.