Mutton traders of Mumbai have challenged the four-day ban that started yesterday for the Jain festival of fasting.
Hearing a petition against a controversial meat ban in Mumbai , a court today questioned the Maharashtra government: "When you are talking of Ahimsa, how come fish, sea food and eggs are not banned?"
There is a difference between mutton and fish, the government replied.
"Fish die the moment they are out of water. So there is no slaughter involved," the government's top lawyer, Anil Singh, told the Bombay High Court.
The sentiment, he explained, was that there should be no slaughter involved.
Hours later, the government told the court that the ban had been cut short from four days to just one more day.
Mutton traders of Mumbai had challenged the ban that started yesterday for the Jain festival of fasting, Paryushan, amid protests by some parties, including the ruling BJP's ally Shiv Sena.
The BJP wanted the ban extended to eight days, but the Sena said it will ensure meat is openly sold and eaten in the financial capital on the days of the ban.
The decision to cut short the ban was taken by the Sena-dominated Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
In court earlier, the government had confronted questions about the logic of the ban, which was described as "regressive" by the judges.
"We have to change our attitude in view of globalisation," said the judges.
Strongly defending its move, the government argued: ""Globalisation can't be at the cost of our heritage, culture and sentiments of religion."
Like Opposition parties the Congress and the NCP, the Shiv Sena has alleged a political move by the BJP to appease the Jain community in Mumbai, with an eye on elections to the civic body in 2017.
The ban during the Jain fast was introduced in 1994 by the then Congress government. Ten years later, the two-day ban was extended to four days, but has never really been implemented, officials say.