INDIA, September 2, 2014 (The Guardian): A court in remote northern India has banned a long tradition of sacrificing animals for religious reasons, deeming the practice cruel and barbaric. The high court in Himachal Pradesh has asked police and other officials to enforce its ban on the slaughter, mainly of goats, in Hindu temples throughout the state.
“A startling revelation has been made … thousands of animals are sacrificed every year in the name of worship,” the court said. “Sacrifice causes immense pain and suffering to innocent animals. They cannot be permitted to be sacrificed to appease a god or deity in a barbaric manner,” it said.
Animals are symbolically offered to the deity and later taken home by villagers and their guests for eating during the Himalayan state’s bitterly cold winter.