Thousands of students protest across Tamil Nadu against ban on Jallikattu

College students stays through night in Marina Beach, Chennai and other places to mark their protest

The protest against the ban on Jallikattu, a traditional bull-taming sport in Tamil Nadu, has intensified with thousands of students across the State protested for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.

The protesters asked the state and central government to take steps to allow Jallikattu and ban animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), alleging that the ban on the sport is a move against the culture and tradition of Tamil Nadu.

Supporting the protest, the lawyers in Namakkal said that they would boycott the courts today. Shops in some parts of Madurai were closed in support of the protest. 

Unrest spread across the State after the police took some of the protestors from Alanganallur, in Madurai, which is famous for Jallikattu, into custody. On Monday, the demonstrators unleashed some bulls in Alanganallur and a few other parts of the State. Following this, they started protesting in town and police arrested them and housed them in a marriage hall. Police force across the State are keeping vigil as the protest is growing.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Working President M K Stalin demanded that the State government should take immediate action to allow the sport to take place. Various leading actors also came out with their support to the protestors and said that the bull taming sport is the tradition of Tamil Nadu.

Bull taming is a sport to show the valour of the youth. It is conducted during the pongal festival, in the middle of January, during when the specially prepared and trained bulls are lead through a small gate to a path cordoned by wooden fence, where the local lads will try to conquer the bull by holding on the hump of the bull for a certain distance or for a minimum number of jumps.

The animal lovers compare the game with Spain's famous bull fight, where the bull is brutally killed for the pleasure of onlookers. In a judgement on May 7, 2014, the Supreme Court of India, banned the conduct of Jallikattu and also held that bulls cannot be used as performing animals either for Jallikattu events or for bullock cart races in the States of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra or elsewhere in the country. The Court also struck down a State Act passed in 2009 as ultra - vires.

"The ban on Jallikattu has caused widespread resentment and general disappointment among the people of Tamil Nadu, particularly in the rural areas, since Jallikattu is intertwined with the religious and social cultural ethos of Tamil society,"said O Panneerselvam, chief minister of Tamil Nadu in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week. 

Allowing the game could also be a political gain for the ruling party in the centre. In January 2015, the Government of Tamil Nadu had requested Modi's personal intervention to enable the conduct of Jallikattu events in Tamil Nadu by denotifying bulls from the list of performing animals in the Notification dated July 11, 2011, issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

The cenre had issued a notification on January 7, 2016, which was expected to enable people to conduct Jallikattu during the Pongal. However, the Supreme Court put stay on it.

A review petition was filed by the government of Tamil Nadu on May 19, 2015, and the Supreme Court refused to review its earlier judgement and dismissed the review petition on December 16, 2016.

The State government has demanded that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, should clearly denotify bulls "as performing animals" from the notification issued on July 11, 2011, and suitably amend  Section 11(3)  of the  Prevention of Cruelty  to  Animals  Act,  1960  by  introducing  a  new  clause  in  sub - section  (3)  of Section 11 specifically exempting Jallikattu in addition to other exemptions already provided in the Act.