A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on May 18 its verdict on a batch of petitions seeking to strike down a Tamil Nadu law which protects jallikattu by claiming that the bull-taming sport is a cultural heritage of the State and is protected under Article 29 (1) of the Constitution.
The Constitution Bench headed by Justice K.M. Joseph had reserved the case for judgment in December last. It had heard marathon arguments on the part of activists and the Tamil Nadu government. The judgment may decide the fate of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act — 2017 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Conduct of Jallikattu) Rules — 2017, which had reopened the gates for the conduct of the bull-taming sport in the name of culture and tradition despite a 2014 ban by the Supreme Court.
The case was referred to the Constitution Bench in February 2018. The primary question involved was whether jallikattu should be granted constitutional protection as a collective cultural right under Article 29 (1). Article 29 (1) is a fundamental right guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution to protect the educational and cultural rights of citizens.
The court had examined if the laws “perpetuate cruelty to animals” or were actually a means to ensure “the survival and well-being of the native breed of bulls”.
The five-judge Bench had heard parties on whether the new laws were “relatable” to Article 48 of the Constitution, which urged the state to endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines. In 2014, the Supreme Court, in the A. Nagaraja judgment, had held jallikattu as cruelty to bulls.
The Constitution Bench had also looked into whether jallikattu and bullock-cart race laws of Karnataka and Maharashtra would actually sub-serve the objective of “prevention” of cruelty to animals under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act — 1960.
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