The BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation cleared a proposal on Tuesday that mandates all the meat shops and restaurants in North Delhi to display whether the meat being sold or served by them is halal or jhatka.
In Hinduism & Sikhism, ‘halal’ meat is prohibited. So we approved a proposal, making it mandatory for all restaurants, dhabas & meat shops in North Delhi Municipal Corporation to put up posters stating whether they serve/sell ‘halal’ or ‘jhatka’ meat: Mayor Jai Prakash pic.twitter.com/YloDkTvXUN
— ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2021
North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash said that halal meat is prohibited in Hinduism and Sikhism. Therefore, the proposal has been passed. “In Hinduism and 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”, said Prakash.
The Standing Committee of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) had moved the proposal recently which was cleared today. The proposal 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.”
The NDMC followed in the footsteps of the South MCD and the East MCD, which had implemented the same policy earlier. The BJP is in power in all the three municipal corporations. A similar proposal was passed by the South MCD in December 2020 and by the East MCD in 2018.
Earlier this year, the central government had removed the word ‘Halal’ from its Red Meat Manual issued by the Agricultural and Processed Food Exports Products Development Authority (APEDA). The step was taken to ensure that the word is not misunderstood to mean that the government mandates Halal products in any way.
What are Halal and Jhatka ways of slaughtering?
Halal is a discriminatory religious practice of slaughtering animals that can only be performed by a Muslim man. Clear guidelines regarding the practice available on the website of halal certification authority in India. Besides the brutal manner in which an animal is given a slow and painful death in Halal process, it requires only the participation of Muslim men at every stage of the entire process. Thus, non-Muslims are automatically denied employment in Halal firms.
Jhatka, on the other hand, is a rather painless way of killing an animal. In this method, an animal is slaughtered in one go.
