Explained: The 2017 Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill enabled courts to award life imprisonment for cow slaughter

A Gujarat Sessions Court sentenced three men to life imprisonment for cow slaughter in Gandhinagar district. The court, acting in a 2024 case, imposed a ₹3 lakh fine on each accused and applied Sections 325 and 54 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Section 119 of the Gujarat Police Act, Sections 5, 6(A), 6(B), 8(2), 8(4) of the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act, 2017, Section 11(1)(l) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and Section 177 of the Motor Vehicles Act. The sentencing relies on the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill 2017, introduced under the Vijay Rupani administration, which added life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for cow slaughter, making Gujarat the only state with such a provision; earlier statutes capped imprisonment at seven years and fines at ₹50,000. Minister of State Harsh Sanghavi wrote on X, “This verdict under the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act sends a clear message that the law will never spare anyone who commits cow slaughter in Gujarat.”