In a move welcomed by residents of Delhi, the BJP led North Delhi Municipal Corporation approved a proposal on Tuesday (30th March) which makes it mandatory for all meat shops and restaurants running under the jurisdiction of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation to declare whether the meat sold by them id Halal or Jhatka.

The North Delhi Mayor, Jai Prakash told the ANI that since Halal meat is prohibited in Hinduism and Sikhism, so a proposal was passed to make it mandatory to disclose whether the meat is Halal or Jhatka.

The Mayor said, “In Hinduism & Sikhism, ‘Halal’ meat is prohibited. So we approved a proposal, making it mandatory for all restaurants, dhabas and meat shops in North Delhi Municipal Corporation to put up posters stating whether they serve / sell ‘Halal’ or ‘Jhatka’ meat.”

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1377127031893159940?s=20

The proposal of the Standing Committee of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) was cleared today . The proposal reportedly stated, “Thousands of restaurants are in operation in 104 wards of four zones falling under North Delhi Municipal Corporation. Out of these, meat is being served in about 90% of restaurants but it is not displayed by them whether the meat being served by the restaurants is halal or jhatka. Similarly, it is not ascertained about the meat being sold at meat shops that whether the same is halal or jhatka. According to Hindu and Sikhism, eating halal meat is forbidden and against religion. Therefore, this meeting resolves that this direction be given to restaurants and meat shops that it should be written mandatorily about the meat being sold and served by them that jhatka or halal meat is available here.”

North Delhi has number of meat shops and eateries selling non-vegetarian food items in many areas, the most prominent of them being Chandni Chowk, Daryaganj and Kashmere Gate.


Earlier a similar policy was put in place by the BJP led South MCD in December 2020 and East MCD in 2018 . The BJP is in majority and administers all the three municipal corporations.
Pertinently few months back, the central government had deleted the word ‘Halal’ from its Red Meat Manual issued by the Agricultural and Processed Food Exports Products Development Authority (APEDA). This deletion was done to make it clear that the government does not mandate or promote only Halal meat products for export.


Halal and Jhatka Methods of Slaughtering Animals

Halal method of slaughtering is mandated under Islam to be the appropriate method of sluaghtering animals. In this method only Muslims butchers and workers can be employed and some Quranic verses are recited while slaughtering. The slaughter itself has to be done in a slow and torturous manner where the animal bleeds to death. The website on Halal certification in India provides guidelines for Halal meat production.

The process mandates only employment of Muslims at every stage, therefore excluding people from other faiths to be employed in the meat industry and business of Halal food. The exclusive Halalonomics policy results in unemployment of many non-Muslims engaged in similar trade. Non-Muslims are automatically denied employment in Halal meat industries and establishments, which is a highly discriminatory practice.

Halal way of slaughtering animals involves inducing a lot of pain and torture to the animal as the animal is killed slowly. Surprisingly, the animal rights activist bodies like the PETA never seek to ban Halal for being a very sadistic and torturous manner to slaughter animals.

Both Hinduism and Sikhism ordains its followers to not cause deliberate and extreme pain to all living beings. Hence, consumption of Halal meat is not sanctioned for devout Hindus.

Jhatka method of slaughtering animals followed by Hindus and Sikhs is a very swift single strike which kills the animal instantly without any pain.

 

News input: Republicworld, Opindia

Image sourced from Opindia

 

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