New Delhi: After the dismissal of the review petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu government in November last, there is very little chance for the Supreme Court to lift its ban on jallikattu to enable the event to be held during this year’s Pongal festival.
The Supreme Court however had reserved its verdict on December 7 last on the validity of the Centre’s notification issued on January 7, 2016 allowing jallikattu to be held. The court had stayed the notification immediately and as a result the event could not be conducted in 2016. The judgment is likely to be delivered in a couple of days ahead of Pongal on January 14.
A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Rohinton Nariman while reserving the verdict had made its intention clear by observing that it is inconceivable that a bull which is a domestic animal should be tamed for the purpose of entertainment during the Pongal harvest festival. It is legally impermissible as the event has inherent cruelty to the animal.
The Judges noted that the very act of “taming a bull” to perform in an event runs counter to the concept of welfare of the animal, which is the basic foundation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960.
The Centre had justified the notification and said bull is not a performing animal and jallikattu is not a performance but a sport to test the valour and strength of the participants. Apart from being a part of Tamil culture and heritage jallikattu is also integral to the religious beliefs and sentiments of the several village communities to mark harvest festival.
Jallikattu is not an entertainment as the objective was welfare and maintenance of bulls which is part of Tamil culture. It said sufficient guidelines had been formulated and care had been taken to ensure that bulls are not subjected to any cruelty and no injury shall be inflicted on the bulls.
The Centre’s argument did not cut ice with the Judges as they observed, “We cannot import Roman gladiator-type sport here. One can use computer for indulging in bull fighting. Why tame bulls for it?”
The court observed ‘in view of the cruelties inflicted, nothing of this nature is permissible. There is a dichotomy. On the one hand you want compassion towards cow, on the other hand you want to use bull as a tool for entertainment for human mind. If we go by constitutional principles of compassion, such a contradiction cannot be permitted. Even if you say that jallikattu is a sport, it is not permissible.” Going by the strong observations it is unlikely that jallikattu will be allowed this Pongal.
