The Animal Welfare Board of India (ABWI) has advised the environment ministry not to overturn the Supreme Court's judgement which presently bans the bull taming sport 'jallikattu' in Tamil Nadu, animal rights group PETA India claimed today.
On Tuesday, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had said that the government will let cultural practices like jallikattu and a few other bullock races to continue while ensuring that animals are not subject to cruelty.
Taking note of the statement, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India expressed its concern over the issue.
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"Immediately after PETA India complained about Javadekar's statement, the AWBI advised the ministry not to overturn the Supreme Court judgement which currently bans them in the country," the rights group said in a statement.
"The advisory to the Secretary of the Environment Ministry from the Convenor of the AWBI's legal sub-committee expressed shock and deep concern about the media reports regarding Javadekar's promise to issue an executive order to allow jallikattu, bull races and similar events," he said.
The advisory further states that these kind of activities "have been struck down by the Supreme Court as illegal and unconstitutional."
Quoting the advisory, PETA said, "You are, therefore, requested to urge the minister to refrain from taking any step to allow any such event...Because the same will be at variance with the Supreme Court judgment in the matter of 'Animal Welfare Board of India Vs A. Nagaraja and Others' and at variance with law and the Indian Constitution."
Javadekar had recently told reporters that jallikattu in Tamil Nadu, bullock cart race in Maharashtra, Kambala in Karnataka and other bullocks races in Punjab has been traditionally and culturally practiced for centuries.
"We want to respect that but also ensure that there should be no cruelty. Therefore, we will give you good news in the next couple of days. We will give you good news so that the cultural practice can be followed as well as cruelty should not happen to animals.
We have found out some ways and will announce by January 1. The government is positive on the issue," he had said.
The AWBI is a statutory advisory body on animal welfare
laws and promotes animal welfare in the country and was established in 1962 under Section 4 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
PETA India said that when jallikattu was permitted in the past under regulations, hundreds of participants were injured each year with many killed.
It claimed that in just four years, from 2010 to 2014, approximately 1,100 injuries to humans were reported by the media as a result of cruel and dangerous jallikattu-type events, while 17 people had died.
"Lifting the protection against cruelty that's currently afforded to bulls or other animals would be a black mark on our nation, which has always been looked up to by people around the world because of our cultural reverence for animals," Poorva Joshipura, PETA India Chief Executive Officer, said.
"Towns in Colombia, Ecuador, France, Portugal and Venezuela have declared that they are against bullfighting, and Catalonia, a region in Spain, has banned it," he further added.
PETA India said that has long campaigned against the use of bulls in performances.
PETA India claimed that the AWBI's communication further urges the secretary of the ministry to advise the minister that the Court categorically held that the Ministry cannot issue a notification or order, replacing or even modifying the notification dated July 11, 2011 without taking the AWBI's view with respect to the same.
AWBI's communication also said that as per PETA, the Court after examination of considerable material before it held that cruelty is inherent in these events and to make bulls participate is in itself an act of gross cruelty, which is not permitted by law.
