Religious body should pay for Shambo shambles

The Hindu temple at the centre of the “sacred” bull confrontation should be made to make a contribution towards the hundreds of thousands of pounds of expenses incurred to the public purse by their belligerence, says the National Secular Society.

The Society’s Executive Director, Keith Porteous Wood “This confrontation has cost the public purse many tens of thousands of pounds in legal action and already hard-stretched police time. We call on the public authorities to require the protestors to pay for the time wasted by police and public officials when they were being obstructed in the performance of their duties.

It was a bad advertisement for the Hindu community for its worshippers to be seen obstructing officials going about their lawful duties, which they are carrying out to protect public health. We are shocked that the Hindu Council UK opposed the cull and accused the Welsh Assembly of being “only interested in commercialism, to make sure Wales maintains its zero TB certificate”. The economic and human cost to the people of Wales of losing the zero TB status would be huge.

“The protestors obstructing the officials were “putting religious dogma before the welfare of the community. The bull posed a potential threat to the health of many thousands of animals and even to people. The religious leaders in charge of the temple should have abided by the same law that everyone else in the country is required to follow.”

Mr Porteous Wood added that “this case represents another example of religious bodies trying to put themselves above the law. We do not live in a theocracy, and democratically enacted legislation must be observed and respected by everyone. The Human Rights Act does not give religion complete carte blanche – religious rights are limited by the need to protect public health and public order. In this case, the statutory authorities rightly prevailed, but only after a long and expensive fight. This religious belligerence must have cost the public purse many tens of thousands of pounds in legal action and already hard-stretched police time.”

The suggestion, supported by the Hindu Council UK, that consideration be given the infected bull to be transported to India would have risked spreading the disease internationally.