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New Delhi - India's western state of Maharashtra Tuesday announced a ban on the sale or possession of beef following demands by the ruling Hindu nationalist party.
National President Pranab Mukherjee signed off on the law passed by the state legislature in 1995 late Monday, broadcaster NDTV reported, quoting Maharashtra state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.
The move came after lawmakers from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules both the state and the national government, met Mukherjee to demand that he clear the legislation.
Selling or possessing the meat will carry a sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to 10 000 rupees (R1 906 at R0.19/rupee).
India's majority Hindus consider the cow an object of worship. Hindu right-wing groups linked to the BJP, which came to power last year, have in recent months targeted vehicles transporting cattle and meat-processing plants run by the minority Muslim community.
"Our dream of ban on cow slaughter becomes a reality now," Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote on Twitter.
The BJP favours extending the ban, currently in place in some states, to the whole country.
Local media reported that the new law was among the toughest measures against beef-eating in India.
Female cows were already protected in the state by a 1976 law. The new regulation extends the ban on slaughter to bulls and bullocks, the Indian Express reported.
It also allows the slaughter of water buffaloes, which are not worshipped, and which provide the majority of India's beef.
Traders of cow beef said the ban will render thousands unemployed and that they were considering a challenge in court.
