A butcher cuts meat for a customer inside his shop in Mumbai, India, in this Sept. 8, 2015 photo.

The Bombay High Court on Monday refused to stay the beef ban temporarily. The court was hearing a petition by various groups to relax the ban on beef for three days during Eid Al-Adha, NDTV reported.

A bench headed by Justice Abhay S Oak said it could not take a drastic decision of staying the provisions of the law that will temporarily lift the ban.

In March, the Maharashtra government had banned the slaughter of bulls and calves in the state, where cow slaughter was already illegal. It made possession, transportation and consumption of beef a punishable offense.

The ban became a political issue after farmers — who were finding it hard to sell their old bullocks — and beef traders started protest against it.

The issue was taken up by Republican Party of India — an ally of the ruling BJP — which contended that the government was doing an injustice to the minority community and the farmers.

But the state government confirmed that there would be no going back on the law, though it would take steps to rehabilitate people whose livelihood has been hit.

Last week, the Supreme Court refused to uphold a temporary ban on meat sale in Mumbai imposed by the state government on the occasion of a Jain festival.

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