Allahabad High Court to Yogi Adityanath: Choice of food is part of citizen’s Right to Life

New Delhi: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court in one of its major judgments said that choice of food and trade in foodstuff were part of the right to life. It gave the UP government of Yogi Adityanath 10 days time to draw up a plan so that its crackdown on illegal abattoirs and meat shops didn’t deprive people of the state of their livelihood or food. The court’s bench also said different food habits had flourished in the state and these were an essential part of the Uttar Pradesh’s secular culture. Allahabad high court was responding to a petition of a trader who sought directions for the new state government to renew licence of his meat shop as the delay was preventing him from carrying on the trade. Since the BJP won power in 2014, focus on cow smuggling and consumption of cattle meat has risen. However, the issue returned to spotlight last month after the new UP CM Yogi Adityanath clamped down on illegal slaughterhouses and cattle smuggling.