Urging the people not to make a "religious and prestige issue" out of the ban on slaughter of cows, bullocks and bulls in Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court today refused to grant relief to beef dealers in the city.

The division bench of Justices V M Kanade and A R Joshi said Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, which bans slaughter of bullocks and bulls in addition to that of cows, had come into effect as it had been notified in the official gazette.