The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday (September 10) recorded the assurance of the State Government that it would withdraw a police notice which had prohibited both animal sacrifice and consumption of non-vegetarian food in and around Sri Honneshwara Deity temple, situated at Shivanagere Village, Tumakuru district.

 

The government informed the court that a fresh notice will be issued within a week, restricting the prohibition solely to animal sacrifice, and clarifying that there would be no bar on the consumption of non-vegetarian food.

 

Justice B.M. Shyam Prasad accordingly disposed of the writ petition (WP No. 25313/2025) filed by Sri Honneshwaraswamy Devasthana Jeernodhara Seva Samithi Trust (R). The Trust had challenged the impugned police notice dated July 13, 2024, which had directed that within a 200-meter radius of the temple premises, neither animal sacrifice nor consumption of meat would be permitted, with violations attracting penal consequences.

 

Court Proceedings and Government Stand

 

During Wednesday’s hearing, the government counsel submitted before the bench:

 

 

The police, while issuing the impugned July 13 notice, had relied on directions in WP No. 18124/2023. However, Justice Shyam Prasad clarified that the earlier order was not an adjudication of any legal dispute but only a direction to consider the petitioner’s representation in light of the government’s stance.

 

At a previous hearing, the court had directed the Additional Government Advocate to seek instructions on the circumstances under which the notice was issued and whether the local jurisdictional police had duly verified customs and practices of devotees in and around the temple precincts.

 

Petitioners’ Grievance

 

The petitioners made it clear that they did not object to a ban on animal sacrifice, but their objection was to the restriction on consumption of food.

 

The Trust, which manages the affairs of the private temple, argued that devotees—spread across Karnataka and even neighboring states—had, over generations, followed the practice of preparing and consuming both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food near the temple. A kitchen and dining hall had been built for this purpose by the devotees themselves.

 

The plea highlighted that devotees generally visit the temple on Saturdays and Sundays to perform rituals, following which they cook and consume non-vegetarian food outside the temple precincts, a custom said to have been in vogue “since time immemorial.”

 

It was argued that the notice not only curtailed their dietary freedom but also interfered with age-old traditions associated with offering services to the deity. The petition, therefore, sought a direction to the respondents not to interfere with the customary practice of preparing and consuming non-vegetarian food outside the temple premises.

 

As interim relief, the Trust had prayed for a stay on the operation of the police notice in so far as it restricted non-vegetarian consumption within 200 meters of the temple.

 

Observations of the High Court

 

While disposing of the petition, Justice Shyam Prasad made significant observations:

• Neither the Karnataka Prevention of Animal Sacrifices Act nor the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act prohibits the consumption of meat.

• Any restrictions, if at all, must be based only on local practices and customs.

• In the present case, since the State has already assured withdrawal of the earlier notice, the court recorded the submission and directed issuance of a fresh order within a week.

 

The court concluded: