Representatives sent by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to supervise the jallikkattu at Avaniapuram near Madurai found violations of the directions issued by the Supreme Court and the Madurai Bench of the Madras High on Monday.
Manilal Valliyatte, a veterinarian, who visited Avaniapuram, found several cases in which bulls were tortured by biting their tails, poking them with sickles, beating to force them to enter the arena, rubbing fluid into the eyes and noses.The team recorded the torture meted out to the bulls.
Apart from that a major violation was the absence of collection yard for the participating bulls at Avaniapuram, which resulted in the death of a bull, which ran on to the road and hit a moving bus.
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Dr. Valliyatte said most of the cruelties took place within the ‘vaadivasal’, the chamber where the bulls were kept before entering the arena. Some of the police personnel on duty joined the locals to torture the bulls using sickles so as to force them into the arena from the ‘Vaadivasal’, he alleged.
At both Avaniapuram and Palamedu the barricades were not erected as per the court directions. The court said that the barricade in the bull taming venue should be erected at a height of eight feet. In both the places the barricades were only six feet high, he added.