MP: PIL Filed In MP HC For Action Against Racehorse Company Promoter
Animal activist vows to get to bottom of the business
BHOPAL: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking action against the Hyderabad-based promoter of a racehorse business firm and one of his associates in Madhya Pradesh under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960, and violation of transportation of animal rules.
The PIL was filed in the wake of the death of eight of the 57 racehorses transported to a private farm in Raipura in Jabalpur from Hyderabad recently, triggering uproar among the animal rights activists.
Jabalpur-based animal rights activist Simran Issar who filed the petition in the MP High Court told this newspaper on Tuesday: “I will get to the bottom of this horse race business and the related online betting. I have filed the petition in the High Court seeking action against action against Hitha Net India Pvt. Ltd and Suresh Paladugu and caretaker Sachin Tiwari for cruelty to animals in the improper transportation of 57 race horses to Jabalpur from Hyderabad and violation of animal rransportation pules”. The farm owned by Tiwari is located in Raipura of Jabalpur.
Paladugu has denied involvement in racing or the condition of horses, and has previously told Deccan Chronicle that he was only providing technical support.
Jabalpur collector Deepak Saxena to order a probe into the death of the eight racehorses between May 7 and 13.
According to the PIL, the horses were transported to Raipura from Hyderabad on April 29 and May 5 this year without following due procedures such as permission from the veterinary department.
“With horse racing getting popular in India, the Hyderabad-based businessman Suresh Paladugu sponsored Horse Power Sports League (HPSL) (in the line of Indian Premier League),” Issar alleged.
“An online betting venture dealing with horse racing, started exclusively for the Philippines, is run at the Hyderabad Race Club. The horse races were broadcast in the Philippines through an app called Tropang Kareista. The organisers of the races paid a hefty amount to the Hyderabad Race Club,” Issar alleged.
Animal activist and polo player Lavanya Sikhawat got hold of videos showing the horrible condition of the horses and took up the matter with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for action, according to Issar.
Fifty-seven of these racehorses were transported to Jabalpur for reasons not made public, she said.
The animal activist said she was planning to file a revised PIL seeking stringent punishment to Paladugu and Tiwari under relevant provisions of the law.
With Jabalpur collector Saxena having ordered a probe, deputy director, veterinary department, A. Moon, told this newspaper: “A three-member team of veterinary doctors was constituted on Monday to probe the death of the eight race horses and monitor the health conditions of the surviving 49 racehorses in the Raipura farm.”
According to him, blood and other samples of the 51 race horses were sent to Hisar in Haryana for a Glander test but all of them were found negative. Glanders is a contagious bacterial disease primarily affecting horses.
Sources mentioned that there was an attempt to use the glanders diseases as a reason to put the ailing horses down. They said the horses had been tested nearly four times, the most recent being on May 24. These tests were conducted by the National Research Centre on Equines at Hisar, Haryana
