Panah Press | Saturday, October 31, 2026
A court in India’s Gujarat state has sentenced three Muslim men to life imprisonment with hard labour in a case involving the illegal slaughter of cows and fined each of them 300,000 rupees. In part of the ruling, the judge referred to the cow’s significance in Hindu religious beliefs, saying that if those responsible for cow slaughter were not punished, the animal—revered as a “mother” in Hinduism—could gradually disappear from the Earth.
The verdict was delivered on Monday, October 26, 2026, by a sessions court in the city of Kalol, in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar district. According to Indian media reports, the convicted men are Wasim Qureshi, Mohammad Rafiq Qureshi and Asfaq Bahlim, all of whom are Muslim.
The case dates back to an incident on August 22, 2024, when police searched a house in Jamla village. According to the prosecution, they seized approximately 277 kilograms of meat, along with tools allegedly used for slaughter. Reports say laboratory tests also identified the seized meat as beef.
After examining the evidence, the court found the three defendants guilty. Two other defendants were acquitted, while proceedings against another defendant were discontinued following his death.
In his 76-page ruling, the judge referred to Hindu religious texts, including the Vedas and the Manusmriti, and discussed the cow’s status in Hindu beliefs. In part of the ruling, he stressed that punishing those responsible for cow slaughter was necessary to prevent similar incidents from recurring.
According to Indian media reports, each of the three convicted men was fined 200,000 rupees under one provision of the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act and an additional 100,000 rupees under a separate provision. The prison sentences are to run concurrently.
Gujarat’s Animal Preservation Act was amended in 2017 to provide for life imprisonment for cow slaughter. The ruling has once again drawn media attention to the strict laws governing cow slaughter and their enforcement in the Indian state.
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