Honour verdict on beef fest, says Hyderabad High Court

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.B. Bhatt of the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday made it clear that the status quo granted by the city civil court on conducting the beef festival at Osmania Campus had to be maintained.

While dealing with a petition by K. Raju, a student of Osmania University, the bench said that everyone should abide by the rule of law and an order passed by any court had to be implemented and there was no need of passing any further order at this juncture in view of the status quo granted by the civil court.

The petitioner had urged the court to direct the authorities to restrain the Democratic Cultural Forum from conducting the beef festival scheduled on December 10, as it would vitiate the academic atmosphere in the university campus.

When the bench asked the reason for conducting such a festival on December 10 and whether it was a festival organised by students of catering, Mr Surendra Rao, counsel for the petitioner, said that the event was planned as part of ‘World Human Rights Day’.

Special counsel of Telangana state A. Sanjeev Kumar told the court that the state government had taken all steps to maintain status quo as per the orders of the civil court. The varsity authorities have also issued directions to the police for maintenance of law and order in the campus.

He brought to the notice of the court that the festival had been conducted since 2011 and it had led to clashes between groups which had led to eight cases being registered till date. He informed the court that students had been organising several festivals including beef, sheep and toddy fests.

The bench said, “No one will question if people have their choice of food at their homes. Students shall not become tools in the hands of vested interests, they shall act independently. We hope that the students will honour the court orders. The future of this country is in the hands of the students. If they violate the orders, law will take its own course.”

Turning down the contention of one the advocates that the intervention of the court would further aggravate the issue, the bench posted the case to December 11.