A portion of the spectators’ gallery on the left side of vaadivasal and a wooden barricade on the right side collapsed at the jallikattu organised by St. Antony the Great Church at Ulagampatti on Saturday.
While the crowd management was far from satisfactory, there was chaos when women and children started running when the gallery crashed. Policemen were unable to regulate the crowd, as many seemed to be in an inebriated state.
Despite repeated words of caution, locals continued to swarm the gallery. Unruly mobs crowded the VIP gallery and refused to climb down. Some of them, challenging the police, sat on the wooden barricades ignoring their warnings. Neither the police nor revenue officials initiated stern action against violators. As a result, a free-for-all situation prevailed inside and outside the venue.
Even for the initial medical check-up, several tamers, apparently inebriated, were loitering in the arena and near the vaadivasal. Though they were repeatedly told not to pounce on the bulls, the youths in groups of three and four did not spare the tired bulls that had completed its run.
Fearing trouble from tamers, the organisers requested the police to stay away from the fenced zone.
Only after Assistant Collector Akash instructed police to bring the situation under control, some order is restored.
43 injured
Forty-three tamers and spectators were injured in the event. One grievously injured person was referred to the Government Rajaji Hospital Madurai.
A total of 232 bulls from Dindigul and Tiruchi districts took part in the event, the organisers said.
A 14-member veterinary team tested the bulls and blunted their horns. Medical teams administered first aid to the injured. Four ambulance vans were kept ready to transport them. The entire event was videographed.
This was the first time jallikattu was held in the district after the ban was lifted. About 200 police personnel, including an ADSP, two DSPs and 11 inspectors, were on duty.
