Legal Expert Says New Law Would Be Needed to Grant Cow ‘National Animal’ Status

PTI, May 26, 2026, New Delhi : Amid demands by prominent Muslim organisations to give the cow the status of a 'national animal', a legal expert said on Tuesday that such a move would require framing of a law in line with the Wild Life (Protection) Act, which accords a similar status to the Royal Bengal Tiger with provisions of stringent punishment for those found guilty of hunting or killing them.

The Environment and Forests Ministry is responsible for the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Hypothetically, if the cow gets the status of a national animal, provisions similar to the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 will have to be made to protect the animal, considered holy in the country.

Former Union Law Secretary P K Malhotra, however, cautioned that before framing such a law, the cause and effect will have to be thought out.

He said such a law will not have a "productive value" and will be "symbolic" in nature.

Malhotra, a former Indian Legal Service officer, said going by the allocation of work in the Union government, the Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Ministry could be the nodal agency for the law "if it is brought".

Referring to Article 48 of the Constitution, which is part of the Directive Principles of State Policy, the former law secretary said several states have already banned cow slaughter by framing local laws based on its provisions.

He said some states allow the slaughter of cows based on the "fit for slaughter" principle, under which old cows that are not milching can be slaughtered.

"The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle," reads Article 48.

He said based on another provision in the Directive Principles of State Policy (Article 44), states are now framing their own laws on a Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

However, the Centre has no plans to enact any law declaring cows as the national animal, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying S P Singh Baghel told Parliament on August 12, 2025.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Hamid Ansari has appealed to Muslims not to slaughter cows during Eid-ul-Azha and urged the Centre to heed Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind chief Maulana Arshad Madani's suggestion and declare the cow as the national animal.

Ansari said nowhere is it written in religion that a cow has to be slaughtered, and asserted that anything that causes distress to fellow citizens must be avoided.

The Royal Bengal Tiger is protected under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, where it is listed as a Schedule-I animal.

This legal status grants the tiger the highest level of statutory protection against hunting, poaching and commercial trade in India, according to Digital Sansad, the website of Parliament of India.

The tiger was officially recommended as the National Animal of India by the National Board for Wildlife in April 1972, officially replacing the Asiatic Lion.

The peacock is also protected under Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which grants it the highest level of legal protection in India.

Declared the National Bird of India in 1963, any harm caused to this species is treated as a major criminal offence.

Section 9 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 completely bans hunting, capturing or killing peacocks.