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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: May 2006

Blue Cross of India wins case vs. bullock cart racing

CHENNAI–– Justice R. Banumathi of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in Chennai, India, on March 29 directed the Tamil Nadu state government to prevent cruelty to animals in connection with bullock cart racing and Indian-style bullfighting, which masquerades as a way of “honoring” cattle.


“It is high time the government shouldered the responsibility of taking up the cause of animals,” Banumathi said. “Equally, it is high time the police shared responsibility in boldly declining permission” for public events involving illegal cruelty, she added.


“Though animal fights are expressly banned under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960,” Blue Cross of India chief executive Chinny Krishna told ANIMAL PEOPLE, “these sad spectacles go on year after year. Scores of spectators and animals are badly injured and killed each year. The bulls are driven crazy with fear, are force fed alcohol and ganja (opium), have their tails bitten, and are then let loose before a drunken crowd to find a person who can ‘tame the bull.’ The largest of these bullfights,” Krishna said, “is organised by the Government of Tamil Nadu in Alanganallur, near Madurai, in January each year.


“In 2003, Kishkinta Amusement Park in Chennai tried to introduce it,” Krishna continued, “but the Blue Cross of India was able to persuade the district collector of Kanchipuram to prevent it by convincing the amusement park owners that it was illegal and action would be taken under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.”


Other Indian humane societies have had less success in bringing similar cases. In March 2005, for example, Justice D.S.R. Varma of the High Court in Hyderabad allowed bullock cart racing to proceed at Chodavaram in Visakhapat-nam district, and ordered police not to interfere.