The Supreme Court on Friday declined an urgent hearing on a plea challenging the Bombay High Court’s June 3 order that permitted the slaughter of animals and birds for Eid-ul-Azha (June 7) and the Urs festival (June 8–12) at the Hazrat Peer Malik Rehan Dargah, located within the Vishalgad Fort in Kolhapur, Maharashtra—a protected monument.
A vacation bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma refused to list the matter for immediate hearing, despite arguments that the high court’s directive violated provisions of the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Rules, 1962, which prohibit cooking and food consumption in protected monument precincts.
“I am telling you, be it of any religion or faith, in a protected monument, so many activities are going on,” Justice Karol remarked when the petitioner’s counsel referred to the Maharashtra notification declaring Vishalgad Fort a protected monument.
Justice Karol also recalled that, during his tenure as Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court, he had passed an order banning animal sacrifice, which was later modified by the Supreme Court to allow such rituals within enclosed premises.
“Gentleman, let me tell you that sitting in Tripura I had banned animal slaughter there. This Court modified the matter to say, it will be carried out in enclosed premises,” Justice Karol added.
When the petitioner insisted on early listing citing last year’s alleged law and order situation, Justice Karol observed that the Bombay High Court had already imposed sufficient restrictions. “It will be like last year only. We are sure the High Court has considered this,” he said.
The Bombay High Court, while granting permission for the ritual, had clarified that the actual sacrifice does not take place on the fort premises, but on private land 1.4 km away, behind closed doors. The court had directed that the rituals must comply strictly with conditions laid down in a previous June 14, 2024 order.
Arguing that animal sacrifice during the festival was an “integral custom”, the Hazrat Peer Malik Rehan Dargah Trust told the High Court that the dargah—dating back to the 11th century—is a shared place of worship visited by both Hindus and Muslims. The offerings made during the festival, the Trust said, are distributed to the poor in nearby villages.
The high court made it clear that animal slaughter is only allowed on private property—specifically land owned by Mubarak Usman Mujawar—and not in any public or open place, with strict compliance of previously laid conditions.
“The same conditions imposed in the June 14, 2024 order shall be strictly complied with,” the High Court had noted, extending the permission not just to the Trust but also to all devotees performing the rituals.