- Monday, February 24, 2025
The top court observed that Jallikattu cannot be called a blood sport since nobody uses any weapon during it and blood may only be something incidental.
By: Shubham Ghosh
Governments of Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra received a big relief after the Supreme Court of India on Thursday (18) upheld the validity Jallikattu, a traditional bull-taming sport which stretches back more than 2,000 years and is one of the oldest sports in the world, and bullock-cart races.
The top court ruled that the states’ acts are legally valid and asked them to strictly ensure that safety and protection of the animals are taken care of under the law.
“Cultural heritage borne out by texts and evidence, the court cannot intervene into the matter,” the Supreme Court said. Its order was pronounced by a five-judge Constitution bench led by Justice KM Joseph.
Jallikattu is a popular bull-taming sport played in Tamil Nadu during the harvest festival of Pongal.
Petitions, including one filed by animals rights body PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), had challenged the law that allowed the sport in the southern state.
The top court had said earlier that the petitions against the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act 2017 needed to be taken up by a larger bench to decide since they involved key questions related to the interpretation of the country’s Constitution.
The top court observed that notwithstanding the cruelty involved in Jallikattu, it cannot be called a blood sport since nobody uses any weapon during it and blood may only be something incidental.
“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 CT Ravikumar had observed.
In January, a teenage boy was gored to death by a raging bull at a Jallikattu event in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu while he was at the viewers’ arena, officials said.
The sport was first banned by the Madras High Court in the southern state in 2006 after a young spectator died after being attacked by a bull.
The Supreme Court banned it in 2014 on grounds of animal cruelty.
Tamil Nadu temporarily lifted the ban in 2017 after protests erupted in the sport’s support.
The state then amended its law to allow the sport’s practice.
