SC To Deliver Verdict On Pleas Against Traditional Bull-Taming Sport 'Jallikattu' On Thursday

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on Thursday its judgment on a batch of pleas challenging Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra laws allowing the traditional bull-taming sport ‘Jallikattu’ and bullock cart races.

“Jallikattu”, also known as “Eruthazhuvuthal”, is a bull-taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as part of the Pongal harvest festival. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph is likely to pronounce its verdict.

As per the cause list published on the Supreme Court’s website, a single judgment will be pronounced by Justice Aniruddha Bose. The petitions, including one filed by animal rights body PETA, have challenged the state law that allowed the bull-taming sport in Tamil Nadu.

The apex court had earlier said the petitions against the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2017 needed to be decided by a larger bench since they involved substantial questions relating to interpretation of the Constitution.

The bench framed five questions to be adjudicated upon by the larger bench. The top court had said that notwithstanding the cruelty involved in “Jallikattu”, it cannot be termed a blood sport as nobody is using any weapon and the blood may only be an incidental thing. It had said though cruelty may be involved in the sport, people do not take part in the event to kill the animal.

“Because there is death does not mean it is a blood sport. I don’t suggest that people who are going to participate and climb onto the bulls are going there in order to extract blood in that event. People are not going to kill the animal. Blood may be an incidental thing,” the bench, also comprising justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and C T Ravikumar had observed.

The top court had, in its 2014 judgment, said bulls cannot be used as performing animals either for “Jallikattu” events or bullock-cart races, and banned their use for these purposes across the country.