The judge said organizing such festivals on campus was unlawful and offends the provisions of the Prevention of Cow Slaughtering Act as well as the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act

City court orders stay on Osmania Univ 'beef festival'

Boils As Police Foil Student Rally

In a blow to the `beef festival' planned by students of Osmania University, a lower court in the city on Monday ordered a stay on the event even as student groups vowed to appeal against the ruling.

Hearing a petition seeking a bar on the fest that has grabbed national headlines and triggered a huge controversy, G Ravinder, the fifth junior civil judge of the city civil court, ordered a status quo on campus -which from Monday morning had turned into a virtual battlefield with police rounding up students who were holding a rally in support of the event.

The judge said organizing such festivals on campus was unlawful and offends the provisions of the Prevention of Cow Slaughtering Act as well as the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, while listening to an appeal by petitioner S Janardhan Goud -an advocate and a research scholar.

Judge Ravinder made the varsity registrar and the organisers respondents, but the court conducted the hearing without them because the petition er invoked an urgency clause and sought an interim relief.

Meanwhile, the OU Arts College had more number of police personnel than students on Monday as they stalled a 5-km rally in support of the festival, which is slated for December 10.

Nearly 50 students were arrested and sent to different police stations. Shouting slogans against the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government, students protested against the arrests. Calling the arrests unwarranted, Shankar, the organiser of the planned `beef festival' said, “We condemn the arrests made by the police. The government should be held responsible for the arrests. If they think that these arrests would stop us, then they are wrong.“

“Having food of our choice is a fundamental right. Neither the government nor the police has any right to stall the festival which relates to sentiments of several students,“ said a woman student.

Later Shankar said they would approach the high court to vacate the stay . “There are a lot of political parties involved in stalling the beef fest. We will do everything possible to vacate the stay on the festival before Thursday ,“ said Shankar. The OU administration welcomed the court's decision.

Hyderabad

TIMES NEWS NETWORK