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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: September 2007

Supreme Court of India upholds bullfight ban

 

NEW DELHI--A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India on July 27, 2007 overturned a March 9, 2007 Madras High Court judgment dismissing a petition seeking enforcement of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to prohibit harvest festival bullfights and bullock cart races.

Called jallikattu, the bullfights and bullock cart races as practiced mostly in rural Tamil Nadu somewhat resemble the mob attacks on bulls practiced at festivals in parts of Spain, Latin America, and South Africa.

Participants beat the bulls and throw chili powder in their eyes, ears and mouths to enrage them, Animal Welfare Board of India witnesses testified. Spectators and participants are often gored or trampled to death, "and the number of injured fighters has often run into the hundreds," noted Reuters.

Goa SPCA chair Lynn De Souza in mid-August 2007 charged that traditional bull-against-bull fights are continuing, though illegal, because "Leading politicians and influential people are patronising this game. Authorities don't dare to act, although organising bullfights amounts to contempt of the court," violating a 1997 ruling by the Goa High Court. "As politicians are backing it, the police are also reluctant to act," De Souza told The Hindu.