JOIN USThe Gauhati High Court (HC) on Tuesday stayed its own order of allowing traditional bulbul fights at a historic temple in Assam during Magh Bihu (Makar Sankrantri).
Hearing a petition by the Animal Welfare Board of India, the HC stayed the earlier order where a single judge bench in December last asked Assam government to keep in ‘abeyance’ its notification ordering prohibition on bulbul fights.
The government order was contested by the Shri Hayariba Madhav Temple committee of Hajo on ‘traditional custom’ grounds which it said has been an annual ritual for about 400 years. The earlier order of the single judge bench of the HC allowing bulbul fights had made people enthusiastic since bulbul fights are very popular in Assam, and thousands gather to see the contest on the day of Makar Sankrantri in Kamrup (Rural) district.
On Tuesday, another single bench of the HC ‘stayed’ the earlier order till the next hearing on January 20.
This has cast shadows on the possibility of organising bulbul fights.
The temple committee, however, still have legal options including moving the Supreme Court, which had banned bull fights in 2014.
“We are grateful to the High Court at Guwahati for upholding the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA), 1960. We hope that Shri Hayariba Madhav Temple at Hajo will implement this order and celebrate a cruelty-free Bihu.
This day will go down in the history as the most victorious day for animal welfare” said N G Jayasimha, member, Animal Welfare Board of India and managing director of Humane Society International.
Bulbuls or “songbirds” as they are known, protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, are reportedly captured from the wild by villagers who then train them by intoxicating their food with marijuana and starve the bird a night before the fight, a Humane Society International press release added.
The temple committee is of the opinion that no harm was caused to the birds and they were set free immediately after the fights.