Is the killing of human being less punishable than that of a cow in India because of British Common Law?
<p>Refer to <a href="https://thelogicalindian.com/news/delhi-high-court-hit-and-run/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this article</a>,</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>... 14 Years Of Jail For Killing A Cow, 2 Years For Killing A Human Being ...</p>
</blockquote>

<p>What is the source of this law? </p>

<p>Is this law derived from <em>British Common Law</em>? </p>

<p>If YES, does Britain still have such law?</p>

<p>The article appears to follow an ancient and disreputable tradition; researching one instance where a crime was lightly punished (but ignoring the reasons), finding another where an apparently more trivial crime was heavily punished (again ignoring the reasoning), and claiming that the law punishes the latter more heavily than the former. As long as people are readier to be outraged than to think, this will make money for muckrakers.</p>

<p>The legal answer (since this has been transferred to Law.SE) is that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law" rel="nofollow noreferrer">common law</a> by definition does not lay down specific penalties for offences. It is possible that Indian common law, being heavily influenced by Hinduism, dictates that killing a cow is a crime outside the Western code, in which it may be a tort but is not a crime unless it involves cruelty. Again by definition, this common law understanding would have nothing to do with the British (or any other) authorities.</p>

<p>My review of the national Indian Penal Code finds that the usual sentence for killing someone else's cow under <a href="http://devgan.in/indian_penal_code/chapter_17.php#s429" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 429</a> is up to 5 years in prison and/or a fine.</p>

<p>But, the Article 48 of the Constitution of India <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_slaughter_in_India#Legislation" rel="nofollow noreferrer">requires states to enact state specific laws barring cattle slaughter, in general, as well</a>, in a nod to the plurality Hindu religion at the time the constitution was adopted (probably a majority now). Despite this mandate the law of cattle slaughter is not uniform and not all states even implement a criminal penalty. The possible sentence for a violation of a state cattle slaughter prohibition varies greatly among the 32 states of India, with several states having no state level criminal offense and instead only civil public health regulations, while the most severe punishment, in the state of Gujarat, is 14 years in prison. In most states it is punishable by up to 6 months in jail to a few years in prison.</p>

<p>This is not derived from British Common Law and slaughtering a cow, <em>per se</em>, is not a common law crime (or a statutory crime in Britain), although, of course it is a British common law crime to intentionally damage someone else's property including cows. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruelty_to_animals" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cruelty to animal</a>s was only made a statutory crime in Britain in 1911 and was not a common law crime.</p>

<p><a href="http://devgan.in/indian_penal_code/chapter_16.php#s302" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code</a> authorizes the death penalty or life in prison for the Indian equivalent of first degree murder.</p>

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