SC orders status quo, fresh hearing of cockfight ban case

January 13, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 06:14 am IST - NEW DELHI:

Ordering status quo, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Andhra Pradesh High Court to hear afresh a petition challenging a State government ban on cockfight in connection with the Sankranthi festival.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu passed the order while hearing a special leave petition (SLP) filed by social worker K. Raghurama Raju and lawyer Chandra Sekhar Azad, challenging an Andhra Pradesh High Court order on the question of permitting cockfight during the festival.

The High Court had, on December 29, 2014, simply disposed of the matter after it was informed that the State government had already instructed district police chiefs “to take action with regard to organising cockfights with bettings, sale of illicit liquor, gambling and subjecting animals and birds to cruelty during the Sankranthi festival”.

In the Supreme Court, the State government was however unable to produce evidence of any such instructions passed on to its police chiefs despite being given an opportunity to do so.

Noting the State government's inability, the Supreme Court on Monday went ahead and set aside the High Court's order. It observed that the High Court was not justified in passing its December 29 order on the basis of a government order, which was not even produced in the court.

At this juncture, senior advocate Anand Grover, appearing for the State government, sought a clarification from the court. He submitted that the Bench should clarify that setting aside of the High Court order did not necessarily mean that cockfight could resume.

The Bench agreed with Mr. Grover that the law, as it stands now under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, bans animal fighting of any kind.

Besides, the Bench also discussed the fact that High Court's attention was not drawn to the Supreme Court judgment in Animal Welfare Board versus A. Nagaraja of May 7, 2014, which banned jallikattu (bull fight).

This apex court judgment, by a Bench led by Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, had reiterated that animal fight certainly came under the definition of cruelty.

“Being dumb and helpless, they suffer in silence,” the Justice Radhakrishnan Bench had observed in the jallikkattu case.

Mr. Grover suggested that status quo in law as regards the relevant provision of the 1960 Act and the Supreme Court judgment of 2014 should continue until the High Court decides on the legality of cockfight.

Agreeing with Mr. Grover, Chief Justice Dattu ordered status quo.

This means that there would be no cockfight in the State until the Andhra Pradesh High Court decides the petition in the light of the relevant provision of the 1960 Act and the Supreme Court judgment of 2014.

The SLP had described how cockfights were an inseparable part of village life in rural parts of Andhra Pradesh the State. It had contended that if the fights were to stop, the lineage of the fighting birds would collapse and lead to the loss of an age-old tradition.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu passed the order while hearing a SLP filed by social worker K. Raghurama Raju and lawyer Chandra Sekhar Azad.

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