Chicken is treated as animal under law: Gujarat Govt tells HC
Ahmedabad, Mar 31: Chicken and other varieties of poultry birds fall in the 'animal' category under the Food Safety and Standards Act, the Gujarat Government told the High Court on Friday.
It prompted senior lawyer Percy Kavina, who is representing chicken shops which have faced action for violation of rules, to say that in that case poultry shops will have to engage veterinary doctors to comply fully with law.
In January, two NGOs filed a PIL in the High Court seeking a ban on supply of poultry birds to meat shops contending that birds were illegally slaughtered in these establishments instead of being sent to slaughterhouses.
The HC then directed the authorities to take action against unlicensed meat shops.
Civic bodies across the state raided meat shops and issued closure notices to several of them for violation of rules. Several chicken shops were also shut during this drive.
The owners of these sealed meat shops and chicken shops approached the High Court for relief.
The bench of Justice NV Anjaria and Justice Niral Mehta was hearing these civil applications.
During the hearing on these applications on Friday, Government Pleader Manisha Lavkumar said the definition of 'animal' under the Act also includes poultry.
Fish is not included because they are not "slaughtered" but only taken out of water, the lawyer said.
Advocate Kavina said the inclusion of poultry in the larger category of meat "goes against age old practice of how meat has been sold and consumed."
When poultry birds are slaughtered in a small concealed area discreetly, it should not be banned, he said.
If chicken is considered to be on par with meat, "chicken shop owners need to appoint a veterinarian to do the stamping (as in slaughterhouses)," he said.
"Inclusion of poultry as an animal ignores the way poultry is sold in retail. You are insisting that poultry is meat and therefore it must be checked pre-slaughter and post-slaughter and then it should be stamped. It is impossible for small chicken sellers. He will have to keep a vet there," said Kavina.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
BJP accuses AAP of circulating 'edited' videos to malign Swati Maliwal
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi BJP Saturday accused AAP leaders of circulating "edited" videos to tarnish the image of their own party MP Swati Maliwal, who has accused an aide of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of assaulting her.
It is regrettable that "edited" videos are being circulated on social media groups since Friday in an attempt to "defame" Maliwal who is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva claimed.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi Police arrested Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar who has been accused by Maliwal of assaulting her at the CM's residence on Monday.
A couple of videos from the chief minister's residence from the day of the incident have surfaced on social media, one showed Maliwal having an argument with security personnel, while the other showed her walking out of the CM's residence in the Civil Lines.
"Now that the entire Aam Aadmi Party is tarnishing the image of Swati Maliwal, it's time Kejriwal comes forward and speaks on the matter," Sachdeva said.
The AAP has accused Maliwal of lying and becoming a part of the BJP conspiracy to frame Kejriwal in a fake case in the midst of elections.
Sachdeva said now that Kejriwal's aide has been arrested by police, many "dirty pages" of AAP's politics will become public.
If the AAP is trying to implicate Maliwal by circulating "edited" videos, it would be better for the Delhi Police to immediately take possession of the complete CCTV footage of the chief minister's residence, Sachdeva said.
He charged that Maliwal is not the first woman leader of the AAP that the party has has defamed.
Earlier, they also raised questions about Kiran Bedi, Shazia Ilmi and Richa Pandey who have all left the AAP, Sachdeva added.
