Describing lynching of a man near Delhi over rumours that he had consumed beef as "politically motivated", former Supreme Court judge Markande Katju said cow was just another animal "which cannot be anyone's mother". "Cow is just an animal and an animal cannot be anyone's mother. If I like to eat beef then what's harm in it. Even people worldwide consume beef. If I like to eat then who can stop me," he said during a function at Banaras Hindu University.
Katju said he too ate beef and was not harm in it. "Are those people across the world who eat beef are bad and only we (in the country) who don't eat are saints and seers? What is the harm in it when people eat beef, I too eat and will even continue to eat further..." he said.
The former Allahabad High Court judge strongly condemned the killing of the man in Dadri and demanded severe punishment to those involved in it.