Plea against Jallikattu to be heard today

 Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), PETA and others on Monday approached the Supreme Court challenging the January 7 notification allowing use of bulls in Tamil Nadu’s Jallikattu and bullock cart races elsewhere.

A battery of senior advocates, representing the petitioners, urged a bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur for listing the matter for consideration.

Agreeing to their plea, the apex court fixed Tuesday for hearing the batch of petitions contending the notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest under Section 22 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, was plainly violative of the law laid down by the apex court in 2014 case of “Animal Welfare Board of India Vs A Nagaraja and others”. Senior Advocates Aryama Sundaram appeared for AWBI, Siddharth Luthra for NGO Compassion Unlimited plus Action, K K Venugopal for Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations, Anand Grover for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Dushyant Dave for Gauri Maulekhi, Trustee, People for Animals.

The petitioners claimed that when jallikattu was permitted in the past, hundreds of human participants were injured each year and many were killed.

During jallikattu, terrified bulls are often deliberately disoriented by substances like alcohol. Their tails are twisted and bitten, besides they are stabbed and jabbed by sickles, spears, knives or sticks and punched, jumped on and dragged to the ground.

Holding Jallikattu, bullock-cart race violative of the PCA Act, the supreme court had in May, 2014 said the animals enjoyed statutory rights against physical discomforts, which were required to be elevated to the level of the fundamental rights of the human-beings guaranteed under the Constitution.