NEW DELHI: The SC on Monday agreed to hear on January 12 a batch of petitions led by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), seeking to quash a January 7, 2016 notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, allowing the exhibition and use of bulls as performing animals for jallikattu and bullock-cart races.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur agreed to hear the petitions on an urgent basis on January 12.
The petitions contended that the January 7 notification circumvents the May 7, 2014 Supreme Court judgment by introducing several regulations meant to protect bulls, all the while glossing over the fact that the very act of jallikattu is “inherently cruel” and blatantly violates several provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 as interpreted by the apex court two years ago.
They questioned the notification’s justification to allow the return of jallikattu for cultural and traditional reasons, especially when the Supreme Court judgment had extensively discussed and concluded that the “sport” was a gross insult to the Tamil culture and tradition to “embrace bulls and not over-powering the bull, to show human bravery.”
The petitions said it was time Parliament elevated the rights of animals to that of constitutional rights, as done by many of the countries around the world, so as to protect their dignity and honour.
