Jallikattu’s roller-coaster ride

The ban order has come a full circle after twists and turns

January 19, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 07:54 am IST - MADURAI:

A flex banner erected by PETA.

A flex banner erected by PETA.

The year 2015 has just begun. Yet, interestingly, it has already gone down in history as the year when jallikattu could not be conducted as scheduled during the Pongal season.

The Supreme Court ban has brought cheers to animal rights activists and tears in the eyes of bull owners, tamers and other enthusiasts. And there can be no better time to recall how seeds sown for the ban in 2006 had come a full circle after going through a roller-coaster ride with many twists and turns in the last nine years.

It was March 29, 2006, when Justice R. Banumathi (now of the Supreme Court) presided over the court proceedings as usual in Court Hall No.4 of the High Court Bench here.

She was hearing a petition filed by K. Muniasamy Thevar, vice-president of Karisalkulam panchayat in Ramanathapuram, seeking a direction to the police to grant permission for rekla race.

Dismissing the petition, the judge sympathised with the animals and expanded the scope of the case by issuing a general direction to the State government to prevent cruelty to animals “in the guise of rekla race, oxen race, jallikattu or any other form of entertainment.”

The judge, in her order, quoted many passages from ‘Animal Laws in India’ penned by Maneka Gandhi, Union Minister, who had kicked up a storm on Saturday by stating that jallikattu was actually a western concept that leads to bloodshed.

Ms. Justice Banumathi’s order came as a beacon of hope to hundreds of animal rights campaigners who could not succeed in curbing the use of bulls in such sporting events even after 45 years since the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act 1960 was passed.

When the order was taken on appeal to a Division Bench the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) came on board. Justice P.N. Prakash, then a lawyer, who appeared for AWBI, contended that whipping, beating, twisting the tails and jumping on the humps of bulls amounted to cruelty.

Focus shifts

N. Nagarajan, whose son N. Marimuthu was gored to death by a bull while sketching a picture of Alanganallur jallikattu from the spectators' gallery in 2004, too joined the appeal proceedings and insisted on banning the sport. His plea shifted the focus from animals' plight to loss of human lives.

On January 10, 2007, the Division Bench stayed the operation of Ms. Justice Banumathi's order and paved way for conducting jallikattu during the Pongal season that year. Two months later, the Bench set aside the single judge's order in toto after observing that the State could introduce regulatory measures for conducting the event.

Writing the judgement on March 9, 2007, Justice Elipe Dharma Rao (since retired) said: “The sport events are part and parcel of the Tamil village culture and are closely wedded to the life-style of the villagers.

However, he made it clear that the sport could be permitted only during Pongal season.

The AWBI took the matter on appeal to a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court which, in July 2007, stayed the Division Bench's order thereby bringing the single judge's order back into operation. On January 12, 2008, the apex court refused to allow jallikattu but granted permission for rekla race.

Three days later, allowing a revision petition filed by the State, the Supreme Court passed an interim order permitting jallikattu too, subject to certain conditions. Thereafter, the State enacted the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act 2009 and laid down elaborate procedures such as notification of venues, registration of bulls and tamers and so on.

In July 2011, veteran Hindi film actor Hema Malini wrote to the then Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh urging him to ban jallikattu . Other celebrities also followed suit leading to the inclusion of bulls under the list of animals that were banned from being used in public performances.

Many writ petitions were filed in the High Court Bench challenging such inclusion and they were taken up to the Supreme Court. But, the apex court continued to permit the events by way of interim orders until it passed final orders on May 7, 2014 banning jallikattu as well as rekla races.

Holding that jallikattu and rekla races were “non-essential and avoidable activities which cause considerable pain, stress and strain on the bulls,” the Supreme Court said that the statutory rights guaranteed to animals under the PCA Act should be elevated to the status of fundamental rights in order to secure their “honour and dignity.”

“No logic”

Resenting the judgement, residents of Avaniapuram, Alanganallur and Palamedu have been staging various protests this year on the premise that there was no logic in banning jallikattu under a law which permits slaughtering of animals as per religious prescriptions.

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