Stressing the importance of cows in Hinduism, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court hoped the Central government would take an appropriate decision to ban cow slaughter in the country and declare cow as the protected national animal. A single bench of Justice Shamim Ahmed dismissed a petition of one Mohd Abdul Khaliq charged under the Uttar Pradesh Cow Slaughter Prevention Act. Khaliq was arrested by the police for carrying beef.