After HC ban, no animal sacrifice in Tripura for first time since 1949

AGARTALA: For the first time since Tripura became a part of India in 1949, Durga Puja was celebrated without a single animal being sacrificed in the state. Following the high court ban, the 500-year-old practice of animal sacrifice was discontinued in the Mata Tripureswari Temple.

A division bench of the high court, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Arindam Lodh, in a landmark judgment on September 27 had ordered that no person will be allowed to sacrifice an animal or a bird within the precincts of any temple in Tripura.

Many devotees, who had queued up at religious places during Durga Puja, expressed their unhappiness with the ban on animal sacrifice.

"For three generations, it has been a family tradition for us to visit the Durgabari Temple on Maha Navami to seek blessings of the Goddess after buffalo sacrifice. The practice of animal sacrifice was started right after the temple was established and it was a condition in the accession agreement signed between the royal family and the Indian government. How can the high court intervene in the issue and take a decision that hurts the religious sentiments of devotees?" said Jitendra Debbarma, who had come to Durgabari Temple from the remote village of Hadrai in Khowai .

The state government has decided to file a special leave petition before the Supreme Court challenging the ban. But the government has asked all district administrations to comply with the order until the apex court responds to the petition.

Meanwhile, Durga Puja celebrations were by and large peaceful across the state. As many as 267 idols have been immersed in Agartala so far.

The Agartala Municipal Corporation has organised a Durga carnival in the city on Friday afternoon, during which 39 big clubs will take their idols on a procession between Chowmuhani post office and Battala. The city administration in a meeting on Wednesday decided that the carnival will continue till 10 pm and arrangement will be made for about 20,000 people to watch the rally from both sides of the road.