Voice Against Animal Sacrifice

Call to stop 'religious' sacrifice of animals

A group of eminent persons of Cooch Behar came out to stop sacrifice
of animals in the name of religion. They submitted a memorandum to the
state Governor through the District magistrate of Cooch Behar urging
him to intervene into the matter. Among the signatories of the
memorandum there are Nikhil Ranjan Dey (BJP leader), Jagat Ranjan
Bhattacharya (Secretary of the District Sports Association) and
Shibendra Nath Roy (President of the district unit of the Trinamul
Lawyers' Cell).

In the memorandum it was mentioned that once human sacrifice was also
a practice but that has been stopped. Child marriage is also a thing
of the past. Now, the animal sacrifice at open place should be
stopped. It is an inhumane and unlawful act that is going on in the
name of religion. Sacrifice of animals done during the Durga Puja at
Baro Devi temple and Madan Mohan temple in Cooch Behar town and
Kamateswari temple at Gosanimari in Dinhata. These temples are under
Debottar Trust Board that is governed under the patronage of state
Tourism department. This practice should be stopped following the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 as amended by Central Act 26
of 1982, the signatories said.

The Nature and Adventure Study Group (NAS Group) is also trying to
aware the people and mobilize their opinion against animal sacrifice.
They started an awareness drive on and from 15 August. The secretary
of the NAS Group, Arup Guha said they already distributed about 50,000
leaflets and received wide response not only in Cooch Behar but also
in areas from Malda to Alipurduar. The 150-th birth anniversary of
Rabindranath Tagore and Maharaja Nripendra Narayan was celebrated but
no one mentioned that they were against the practice of animal
sacrifice, Guha said. He said that the system cannot be uprooted
immediately but continuous awareness drive against it may be fruitful
one day in future. So the NAS Group is campaigning among the students
in the schools, he added.