‘Implement ban on jallikattu’

Animal welfare organisations such as People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO) have written to Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natrajan requesting her to implement her ministry’s notification which bans jallikattu, a bull taming festival, even as many bulls and competitors were injured during the event this year. 

Organisations from all over India such as In Defence of Animals (IDA), Plant and Animals Welfare Society (PAWS), International Animal Rescue Goa, Foundation for Animals Nellore, JBF (India) Trust Guwahati, International Animal and Birds Welfare Society, Anantapur, among others, have written to Natrajan on the issue as violations of the Performing Animals (Registration) Rules were duly noted by some organisations during the event. 

In fact, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had identified bulls as performing animals through a notification in 2011, which implicitly means a ban on jallikattu but the Madras High Court’s Madurai bench allowed the event to take place in Tamil Nadu this year. “We are asking the MoEF to defend its own notification in court as there can be no ruling which goes against a central notification such as the one issued by them. We compliment them on such a forward-looking notification but expect its implementation soon,” said FIAPO chief executive officer Arpan Sharma. 

The organisations said every year, during the festival, bulls are harassed, beaten, prodded and tormented. In fact, PETA conducted investigations at five jallikattu events and found that bulls were tied tightly, causing them severe discomfort, they were hit with fists and their tails pulled and twisted and they were wrestled to the ground. All these are violations of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, the organisatons said. 

According to news reports cited by the organisations, 19 competitors and 23 bull tamers were injured at a jallikattu in Avanuyeapuram on January 15, where 257 bulls were used. At another event near Tirupati, bulls were forcibly given country liquor and 18 persons were injured. 

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/implement-ban-on-jallikattu/905113/2

'Jallikattu not a festival but a commercial event'

Sriram Balasubramanian

Trashing Tamil Nadu's bull-taming festival, Dr S Chinny Krishna, vice chairman Animal Welfare Board of India, say that Jallikattu is not just unjust to the bulls but is also illegal the way it is carried out. He spoke to Sriram Balasubramanian.

What are your thoughts on the Jallikattu festival in southern India?
It is not a 'festival'. A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centres on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community according to a commonly accepted definition.

Jallikattu is today a purely commercial event at which bulls are tortured. Only money, liquor and gambling play an important part in the event. As a proud Tamilian, I am ashamed that this takes place on the holy land on which our most revered sage, Tiruvalluvar, strode talking about kindness to animals.

Why do you think it has been practiced for such a long time?  
Sati and child marriage have been practiced for an even longer time.

Do you think the Supreme Court ruling has been followed by the people?  You are fully aware that it has not been followed by the administration or the people. You are aware that gross cruelty took place even last year and the Indian Express even published a close-up photograph of a participant rubbing chilli powder into the eyes of a bull. You are also aware of the number of deaths of participants and spectators, not to mention injuries to the terrified animals.

Is it good enough to provide mere guidelines?
This should be good enough if people and the administration are law abiding. However, in India where we have some of the best legislation in the world, enforcement is so lax or non-existent that the usual procedure seems to be to go back to the courts to get a direction to see that the law is enforced.

Is a step like banning this festival too radical in nature?
Of course not. We must learn to have zero tolerance for injustice in any form and Jallikattu comes not only as injustice to the bulls but is also illegal the way it is carried out. However, even if it were legally allowed, one cannot condone cruelty to animals, especially in the name of sport or religion.

Have you looked at the Spanish model where the Spanish still have bullfighting since it is a part of their cultural fabric?
Whether Spain uses bullfighting or not is irrelevant. We have a culture that is older than Spain's and my culture does not include cruelty. However, since you have mentioned it, may I tell you that the last bullfight in Catolonia in the heart of bullfighting territory was on January 3, since Catalonia has voted to ban bullfighting.

 

How do you plan to monitor this year's Jallikattu?
We are doing our best to ensure that the government of India notification on July 11, 2011, prohibiting the use of bulls as performing animals is enforced and that Jallikattu does not take place.

All district collectors have been repeatedly reminded about the notification and all have been made aware that the use of bulls as performing animals is banned. In the hearings before the Supreme Court, the Attorney General of India, Gopal Subramanium, and a battery of lawyers representing the state of Tamil Nadu in the case filed by the Animal Welfare Board of India accepted that these are indeed performing animals and, consequently, the Jallikattu bulls were got registered by the AWBI for last year's Jallikattu.

The AWBI cannot register them this year in view of the ministry's notification. Not even one of the approximately 1,000 bulls registered last year by us have fulfilled the terms and conditions under which registration was given. Documents as required after registration were not submitted as called for.

What are some of the steps that you intend to take to avert or reduce the impact on the animal during the festival time?  
We intend to stop it completely.

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-jallikattu-not-a-festival-but-a-commercial-event/20120116.htm 

High Court grants permission for jallikattu

 But refuses to stay Centre’s notification prohibiting use of bulls as ‘performing animals’

The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday refused to stay the operation of a notification issued by the Centre on July 11 prohibiting the use of bulls as ‘performing animals.' Yet, it permitted the conduct of jallikattu in eight places in Madurai, Tiruchi and Sivaganga districts between January 15 and 29.

Passing interim orders in a batch of public interest litigation petitions filed both in favour as well as against the event, a Division Bench comprising Justice Chitra Venkataraman and Justice R. Karuppiah said they were inclined to permit the sport during this Pongal season alone in view of its regulated conduct in the last two years and for want of a counter affidavit by the Centre.

The Bench ordered that the events should be conducted strictly in compliance with a series of interim orders passed by the Supreme Court on the issue between January 2008 and March 2011, the safeguards provided under the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act, 2009 and additional safety measures promised to be undertaken during the hearing of the present batch of cases. 

“In all fairness, the State should see that the safety and security of bull tamers, spectators and bulls were protected. The festival is not only for us but also for the four-legged creatures. Take care and make it an enjoyable event. Ensure that everything goes well,” Ms. Justice Venkataraman said and directed the State government to file a compliance report by January 30. 

She said the compliance report would form the basis for the court to reconsider the issue of permitting jallikattu in future. Further, the State government was ordered to provide a checklist to the officials concerned. The additional safeguard ordered in the present case was setting up of bull yards at the end of the bull taming area in order to prevent the animals from returning to the track. 

Director of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services R. Palaniswamy said jallikattu would be conducted at Avaniapuram, Palamedu and Alanganallur in Madurai district; Periyasuriyur, Palakurichi and Karungulam in Tiruchi district and Siravayal and Kandipatti in Sivaganga district. Coconut fibre and saw dust would be strewn on the surface in Avaniapuram where the sport was conducted by cordoning off a main road. 

Earlier, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) M. Ravindran said the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests would require at least two week to file its counter affidavit as it had to be vetted by the Law Ministry. However, he submitted on oral instructions that the July 11 notification was primarily meant to ban animal race conducted in Maharashtra and Gujarat and not Tamil Nadu's Jallikattu. 

But the judges asked the ASG to put his submissions in writing and submit it by January 30 when the court would decide the larger question of the Centre's notification having the effect of nullifying the State enactment on regulating jallikattu. S. Guru Krishnakumar, Additional Advocate General, representing the State government in the Supreme Court, argued the case on behalf of the State. 

He contended that the Centre's notification would apply only to animals registered under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and not the jallikattu bulls which were registered only as per Supreme Court orders in a different format than what was prescribed under the PCA Act. He also contended that it was the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and not the District Collectors who were registering the bulls. 

“Flouting court orders”

Countering the arguments, senior counsel R. Yashod Vardhan, appearing on behalf of an individual animal lover, read out the Supreme Court order and said that it categorically stated that only the Collectors concerned must register the bulls as per the PCA Act. “If these bulls were not being registered as per the apex court orders, then it amounts to flouting the court orders,” he added. 

Later, when Mr. Krishnakumar argued that the AWBI, which had filed a writ petition in favour of the Centre's notification, ought to have moved the Supreme Court which was already seized of a batch of cases on the issue and not the High Court, Ms. Justice Venkataraman intervened and said: “The same would apply to you (State government) too. You could have also challenged the notification.” 

The AAG was joined by Advocate General A. Navaneethakrishnan who flew down from Chennai in the evening when the judges were dictating their orders.

A huge number of villagers and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam cadres burst crackers outside the High Court campus immediately after the court granted permission for the sport.