The Supreme Court on Wednesday prohibited use of bulls in south India’s ‘Jallikattu’ festivals, holding this practice to be an offence under the law.
A bench led by Justice K S Radhakrishnan held that use of bulls in such events severely harmed the animals and constituted an offence under the Prevention of Cruelty to the Animals Act.
The bench struck down a notification by the Tamil Nadu government in this regard and said the central law that prohibited use of the animals shall prevail.
It also nixed a proposal by the central government to allow use of bulls by amending the list of animals prohibited from being trained for performances.
The Centre’s affidavit in the SC had stated: “In order to strike a balance and to safeguard the interest of all stakeholders including the animals, while keeping in mind the historic, cultural and religious significance of the event and with a view to ensure that no unnecessary pain or suffering is caused to the animals, participants and spectators, the government of India proposes to exempt ‘bulls’ participating in ‘Jallikattu’ in the state of Tamil Nadu from the purview of the 2011 notification.” This stand however failed to find favour with the court.
The animal welfare activists are up in arms against Jallikattu for the past several years. They want the age-old sport to be banned for what they call it as massive cruelties to animals.
After a single judge of the Madras High Court had banned the sport few years ago, the issue was taken to the Supreme Court, where a batch of petitions are now pending for final disposal.
The SC had also once noted that Jallikattu was nothing but a sport inflicting massive cruelty to animals but allowed it under stringent conditions on vehement request by the Tamil Nadu government. – The Indian Express, 8 May 2014
Filed under: india | Tagged: animal rights, bull fighting, cruelty to animals, culture, festivals, jallikattu, PETA, supreme court of india, tamil nadu |
BHARATA BHARATI 
While there may be an argument for killing animals for food, the use of animals for spectacles is unacceptable. The SC’s ruling is valid.
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Those mindful of law and so called animal-activists sometimes miss plain common sense. All animals are basically free – ie wild by nature. When man tames or domesticates any, it is an act of violence, whether there is external injury or not. If the judiciary is so full of the milk of kindness for animals, they should go the whole hog and ban domestication and use of any animal – be it for pulling carts, or any other purpose. They should also ban keeping pets – be it horse, cow, bull, dog or cat, as it deprives them of their freedom to be wild. And how is it proper to keep free birds confined to cages? That should also be banned. And what about people killing goats, cows, pigs, chicken, fish, etc for food? Is it not violence or at least inhuman if not uncivilised? The SC can notice specs, but this beam will escape its attention? Jallikattu is cruel, cock-fights are cruel, but killing and eating the same and other animals is not cruel? What logic is this?
And what about prevention of cruelty to babes and children? Putting children as young as 3-4 years to any type of forced instruction in a confined atmosphere- called by any fancy name such as play-house, nursery, prenursery, pre-school etc is cruel too.It is worse than even Jallikattu- this deals with the animal’s body, but schooling young children meddles with and injures their mind. Who will stop this?
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday prohibited use of bulls in south India’s ‘Jallikattu’ festivals, holding this practice to be an offense under the law. A bench led by Justice K S Radhakrishnan held that use of bulls in such events severely harmed the animals and constituted an offense under the Prevention of Cruelty to the Animals Act. It also nixed a proposal by the central government to allow use of bulls by amending the list of animals prohibited from being trained for performances. The animal welfare activists are up in arms against Jallikattu for the past several years. They want the age-old sport to be banned for what they call it as massive cruelties to animals.
The above decision was for in respect of bulls only. Should the same justification/rationale/reasoning apply to killing of cows [PRAYED to as HOLY MOTHER COW] which are killed in millions every year in the name of religion since the Moguls ruled India and permitted by the British [for their own political benefit]? Similar practice is prevalent in some religions where goats are killed in the name of sacrifice to deities.
The SC has made its ruling but then who will enforce it?
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