The true hero in this battle was Union Minister (for environment) Jairam Ramesh who first initiated a ban in 2011.
The Tamil Nadu govt played politics (no surprise here) and the Ministry of
Environment and Forests (aka Delhi Durbar) was playing coalition politics. The MOEF
made a petition that cruelty to animals was permissible because of “historic, cultural and religious significance of
the event.” So what other backward practice shall we re-instate (de-criminalize) by virtue of this special considerations?
Incidentally we @ BP had called for a ban when the bull abuse (as well as spectator injury) stories surfaced and we are delighted that the Supreme Court agrees. Well done!!
…..
The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned Tamil Nadu’s centuries-old Jallikattu bull fights.
A bench of Justice KS Radhakrishnan and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose
also asked the centre to amend the law on preventing cruelty to animals
to bring bulls within its ambit.
The court also struck down a 2011 Tamil Nadu law regulating the conduct of Jallikattu. The law provided for conducting Jallikattu from January to May in
various places in Tamil Nadu to ensure the protection of not only the
participants but also of the spectators. The law was enacted in the wake of a large number of deaths and injuries that took place during the sport.
The ban order came as the apex court allowed an appeal by the Animal
Welfare Board of India challenging a Madras high court verdict.
….. ……. *****Animal
rights groups in India on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court order,
banning use of bulls for entertainment like ‘Jallikattu’ (a rural sport
of taming bulls in Tamil Nadu), and called it a landmark judgment.
The groups also praised the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) for
refusing to go by the stand taken by the Tamil Nadu government, the
‘Jallikattu’ Federation and the Union ministry of environment and forest
(MoEF) in the apex court.
The PETA has vigorously campaigned against the use of bulls in these
cruel events. “Its investigators have found that terrified bulls are
deliberately disoriented, have their tails twisted and bitten and are
stabbed, punched, jumped on, and dragged to the ground. During races,
bulls are often hit with nail-studded sticks. In bull fights, the round
ends when one of the bulls is either killed or manages to flee”, said
Valliyate.
The PETA’s campaign to end this abuse was vocally
supported by Bollywood actors Hema Malini and John Abraham, who had both
written to the MoEF calling for Jallikattu to be stopped.
Stating that “May 7, 2014 will go down in the history of India for this
landmark verdict”, Nanditha Krishna, chairperson of the Humane Society
International-India (HSI-India), noted the crucial role played by the
then environment minister Jairam Ramesh for issuing a notification
banning use of bulls as “performing animals” in 2011.
In its affidavit in the SC, the MoEF 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.”
Reacting to such
contention, HSI-India chairperson said, “There is nothing intellectual
or cultural about fighting bulls. Jallikattu owes its origin to man’s
domestication of cattle, which gave him the draught power of the bull
and milk from the cow…But culture is not static. Just as we have
evolved and given up sati, human sacrifice and child marriage, we must
give up bull baiting and racing bulls too.”
According to the
HSI-India, during Jallikattu, bulls are deliberately terrorized and made
to suffer for entertainment. They are taunted by crowds, their tails
twisted and broken, hit, wrestled to the ground and beaten and prodded
with nail studded sticks, not to mention the chilli powder that is
thrown into their eyes to craze them or the alcohol poured down their
throats.
The Court on Wednesday also noted the penalties for
cruelty to animals under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960
are weak and that the act requires an update.
……..
Link: http://www.firstpost.com/india/sc-bans-jallikattu-bull-fights-in-tamil-nadu-1512583.html
…..
regards
Is this really a positive change? I don't know too much about Jallikattu but how is the animal torture involved in it any different than bullfights in Spain? Even though people still denounce the animal killing in Spanish bullfights, there isn't enough support for an outright ban. I think it's a retrogressive move, and if anything they should have just modified the rules of the activity so that none of the bulls are killed(as in Portugal)..
Where are animals tortured? the only thing I have hard is that people put chili powder in the animal's nostril to get the bulls mad. there is no killing of the bulls. At thee end, more men get gored. In fact, the jallikattu is much less dangerous than the Spanish bullfighting. In any case, the bulls are 250-350 kgs, and not that threatening.
Exactly. So, what is the point of the ban? When referring to devadasi culture, yes it was rather backwards in some ways but the revival of Indian Classical Dances are derived in part from the maintenance of the art forms by the temple dancers.