Residents of Ahatguri village in central Assam’s Morigaon district on Friday defied the Supreme Court ban on animal fights and had six pairs of buffaloes locking horns on a paddy field after a strong posse of police and central reserve police force prevented them from entering the main venue, where buffalo fights had been organised for the past 42 years.
The organising committee decided not to hold the buffalo fights this year in compliance with the SC directive which was formally communicated to it on Wednesday. It has, however, decided to move the apex court for a review.
Hundreds of irate villagers resorted to blockade of the National Highway and the railway track disrupting vehicular and train movement demanding that they be allowed to observe their tradition as part of the Bhogali Bihu (post-harvest) festival.
“Our forces were deployed around the main venue from 5 a.m. till 3 p.m. and no buffalo fight was allowed to take place there. The organising committee of Ahatguri Moh Yuj [buffalo fight] and Bhogali Bihu Utsav Committee also fully cooperated with us and dropped it from the programme of the two-day Bihu festivity that began on Thursday,” Superintendent of Police, Morigaon district Ainul Haque told The Hindu .
There were reports of some people privately organising buffalo fights in Baidyaguri.
Organisers of the traditional bulbul fights on the premises of the Haygriva Madhava temple of Hajo in lower Assam’s Kamrup district also refrained from holding them on Thursday in compliance with the Supreme Court directive. Chief priest and administrator, Siva Sarma, however, said the temple committee would seek a review of the directive and plead for exemption for the “religious tradition which had been observed for over 300 years.”
The government issued a directive to all deputy commissioners to ensure that the directive was complied with.
