Supreme Court upholds laws allowing Kambala, Jallikattu

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 18, 2023: The Supreme Court on Thursday, May 18, affirmed the laws allowing bull-taming sports like ’jallikattu’, ‘kambala’, and others framed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra governments to allow sports involving animals.

 

Upholding the validity of the state laws, a five-judge constitution bench comprising Justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar said it will not disrupt the view of the legislature since the legislature has taken a view that it is part of the cultural heritage of the state. The top court said when the legislature has declared that jallikattu is part of cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu, then the judiciary cannot take a different view and stressed that the legislature is best suited to decide that.

The bench observed that the court was satisfied with the materials that jallikattu has been going on in Tamil Nadu for many years and whether this was an integral part of Tamil culture required greater detail, which exercise the judiciary could not undertake. The detailed judgement in the matter will be uploaded later in the day.

In December last year, the apex court had reserved its judgement on a batch of petitions challenging Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra laws allowing bull-taming sport ’jallikattu’ and bullock cart races.

The Tamil Nadu government, in a written response, had said jallikattu is not merely an act of entertainment, rather an event with great historic and cultural value.

In May 2014, a two-judge bench of the apex court, in Animal Welfare Board of India vs A Nagaraja, banned the use of bulls for jallikattu events in the state, and bullock cart races across the country. The central law, The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, was amended by Tamil Nadu to allow jallikattu.

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, was amended by Tamil Nadu to allow jallikattu. In one of the petitions, animal rights body People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), had challenged the state law that allowed the bull-taming sport in Tamil Nadu.