KATHMANDU, Aug 4: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a directive order against animal sacrifice during Gadhimai festival calling on the government to discourage the tradition of sacrificing animals in the name of pleasing gods.

A joint bench of justices Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada and Anil Kumar Sinha issued the order directing the government to form a committee to address the issue.

Responding to the writ petition filed by Advocate Arjun Kumar Aryal, the SC has asked the government to respect the feeling of the people in the region and take steps to make people aware about the consequences of animal sacrifice.

According to SC's Deputy Spokesperson Bishwor Raj Paudel, the order tells the government to create an environment that discourages people to carry out the wrong tradition of animal sacrifice and give it up themselves.        

The writ petitioner had asked the Supreme Court to issue an order to stop the sacrifice of thousands of animals during the Gadhimai festival, a month-long Hindu festival held every five years at the Gadhimai Temple in Bariyarpur of Bara district.Hundreds of thousands of animals are slaughtered during the festival, the world's largest animal sacrificing event, and thousands of pilgrims from both Nepal and India visit the temple.   

Activists from Nepal and India have been calling for an end to the brutal tradition of animals sacrifice. They argue that mass killing of animals is against the Animal Health and Livestock Services Act 1999 and would also adversely affect the environment.

The Supreme Court of India has also issued an interim order directing the Indian government to curb the illegal movement of animals across the border meant for sacrifice during the festival.