Bombay HC permits animal slaughter for Bakri Eid and Urs at dargah at Vishalgad fort
Mumbai, Jun 3 (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Tuesday permitted animal slaughter for the Eid al-Adha (Bakri Eid) and Urs at a dargah at the Vishalgad fort in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district.
The fort is a protected monument, citing which the authorities had prohibited slaughtering of animals and birds on the premises.
A vacation bench of Justices Neela Gokhale and Firdosh Pooniwalla heard an application by Hazrat Peer Malik Rehan Dargah Trust, seeking permission for slaughtering animals.
The bench permitted animal slaughter for Bakri Eid to be celebrated on June 7 and the four-day Urs (fair) to be held from June 8 to 12 at the dargah at Vishalgad fort.
The court said the order shall extend not just to the dargah trust but to other devotees too.
The bench said similar permission was granted last year too.
It added that the conditions imposed last year like carrying out the animal slaughter only in private and enclosed space specifically at Gate No. 19, which is privately-owned by Mubarak Usman Mujawar, and not in public areas, shall apply this year too.
The Deputy Director of Archaeology had prohibited animal sacrifice at the fort, citing the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act. But the trust argued that the sacrifice is an "age-old practice" conducted on private land 1.4 km away from the fort, and that the meat is distributed to pilgrims and villagers nearby.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
