The Bhagabati temple at Banpur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Cuttack, Sept. 21: The issue of animal sacrifice is back in focus at the 700-year-old Bhagabati Temple at Banpur in Orissa.

While Parikud King Santosh Chandra Deo wants to perform animal sacrifice during Durga Puja as part of the royal tradition, Orissa High Court has left it to the government to decide on it.

Last year, the Khurda district administration prohibited animal sacrifice at the temple during Durga Puja citing a high court directive.

The court, on October 5, 2010, directed the Orissa government to take steps on a petition apprehending slaughter of animals in the name of sacrifice at the temple during Durga Puja. The Bhagabati Mandir Sanskar Parishad had filed the petition.

Deo had filed a representation before the Khurda collector citing a ruling issued by the Supreme Court in 2007, but the latter did not act on it. He then filed a petition urging the high court to allow him perform animal sacrifice at the temple during Durga Puja this year “as it is a traditional seva puja from the royal family’s side”.

According to the petition, the Supreme Court had dismissed a petition seeking a ban on animal sacrifice in August 2007, saying: “It is not within the domain of the court to issue a direction for ban on slaughter of cows, buffaloes and horses as it is a matter of policy on which decision has to be taken by the government.”

“Taking note of it, the division bench of Orissa High Court consisting of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra directed the Khurda collector to take a decision as per the ruling of the Supreme Court,” Parikud King’s counsel Arun Kumar Acharya told The Telegraph today.

Last week, the court, in its order, expected the Khurda collector to take a decision on the King’s representation “as expeditiously as possible, preferably before the Durga Puja”.

“The collector had since called a meeting among members of the temple trust board, endowment officials, sub-collector and police officials on September 23 to take a decision on the matter,” Acharya said.

The temple had been locked and rituals stopped for a week since Mahastami last year following tension over prohibition of animal sacrifice by the district administration. Prohibitory orders (under Section 144 of CrPC) were clamped in and around the temple.

Priests and members of the Maa Bhagabati Parampara Surakshya Manch, a body supporting animal sacrifice, had gone on a protest hunger strike alleging that the temple was desecrated after a group of policemen entered its premises wearing shoes.

The temple was opened after a group of pundits from the Puri Jagannath Temple “sanitised” the Bhagabati Temple.