New Delhi: A plea has been moved in the Indian Supreme Court seeking a ban across India on Halal certified products and also withdrawal of Halal certification.
The plea by advocate Vibhor Anand, maintained that the Muslim minority, which is 15 per cent of the population, wants to consume ‘Halal’ meat and the same is being forced upon the rest 85 per cent of the people.
“Now, this ‘Halal’ certification is not restricted to meat, but it has been extended to even food items, cosmetics, medicines, hospitals, housing societies and malls. It includes snacks, sweets, grains, oils, cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, nail polish, lipsticks, etc,” it said.
The plea stated that the acceptance of Halal certification by private organisations like Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind and few others mean that the existing government certification like ISI (Indian Standards Institution) and FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) on consumer products is not enough. It claimed that the Halal certification of products is discriminatory towards other communities.
The plea said people who may not be comfortable with halal meat, or for people with religions where only jhatka meat is allowed, no longer have any choice in the matter.
The plea urged the top court to issue direction to the Indian government to declare all the certificates issued by various organisations as null and void and also direct the government to impose a ban on all products which have been Halal certified. Web Desk
