Mumbai: Members of the Vishwas Hindu Parishad have forced several slaughterhouses in Maharashtra to shut shop after a law was passed banning the beef trade here, a leader of the group and a lawyer for meat traders said on Wednesday.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad acted after winning a court order to stop the killing of bulls and bullocks.

Members of the VHP came to Deonar sluaghterhouse late at night and asked us to stop the slaughter, showing the copy of the High Court order.

-Mohammad Ali Qureshi, President of Bombay Suburban Beef Dealers Assoc.

Deonar, on the outskirts of Mumbai, is India’s largest slaughterhouse. The beef trade is mainly controlled by minority Muslims, raising concerns that the ban is driven by Modi loyalists pursuing a Hindu agenda.

President Pranab Mukherjee last week gave his assent to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Bill, which had been pending for 20 years, extending a ban on the killing of cows, to bulls and bullocks.

The law calls for up to five-years jail for anyone found in possession of beef, according to media reports.

But the state government - led by a Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party - said it could take a week to implement the law which prompted the VHP to petition the Bombay High Court yesterday for an immediate ban.

Why wait for another five to six days, just for paper formalities and the final draft? If we would have waited, thousands of cattle would have been slaughtered

-Vyankatesh Abdeo, All India secretary, VHP

Attacks on the trade have intensified in Maharashtra since the BJP came to power 10 months ago. Modi himself criticised the previous government for promoting a ‘pink revolution to butcher cattle and export meat’.

Acting on the VHP’s appeal, Justice VM Kanade on Tuesday ordered the state to ensure that killing of bulls and bullocks is stopped, according to a copy of the order seen by Reuters.

Meat centres across the state, including Deonar, have stopped operating, said Sagheer Khan, a lawyer for All Maharashtra Cattle Merchant Association.

Up to 95% of the large-sized cattle slaughtered in Deonar were bulls or bullocks, with the rest being water buffaloes, whose killing is legal.

Beef dealer Qureshi said the ban would cost many jobs and push up prices of buffalo meat.