The landmark judgment declaring right to privacy a fundamental right would have “some bearing” in matters relating to slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court said on Friday.

The Bombay High Court had on May 6 last year struck down Sections 5(D) and 9(B) of the Maharashtra Animals Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995.

While Section 5(D) criminalises possession of flesh of cows, bulls or bullocks, slaughtered outside Maharashtra, Section 9(B) imposed burden on the accused to prove that meat or flesh possessed by him/her does not belong to these animals. The State government had filed an appeal in the top court.

The SC observed this while hearing a batch of appeals filed against the HC verdict decriminalising the possession of beef in case of animals slaughtered outside the state.

Right to eat

A Bench comprising Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan was told by senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing some of the petitioners, that after yesterday’s privacy verdict by a nine-judge constitution Bench, the right to eat food of one’s choice was now protected under privacy.

Senior advocate C.U. Singh also told the apex court that the privacy judgement would have to be looked into while deciding the issue. “Yes, that judgement will have some bearing in these matters,” the Bench observed. The Supreme Court had yesterday said “nobody would like to be told what to eat or how to dress” while ruling that these activities come under the realm of right to privacy.