The Case of the Invisible Butchers

Abstract

This chapter explores the transformation of the political agitation over cow protection by the enactment of the Constitution. Although the debate over cow protection had always been framed in terms of the religious rights of Hindus and Muslims, the Constitution met the demands for cow protection on ostensibly neutral economic grounds and laid it down in Article 48 as a directive principle of state policy. After partition and democratic elections, the new elected state governments of north India enacted strict laws prohibiting cow slaughter and criminalizing the consumption of beef. The chapter then looks at a writ petition brought by three thousand Muslim butchers—possibly India's first class-action suit—that challenged these bans through a language of economic rights rather than religious freedom. Ultimately, it addresses how religious freedom, minority rights, and political mobilization were transformed through the emergence of the Constitution as a site for politics.