New Delhi: Urging the government to accord constitutional status to animal rights, the Supreme Court Wednesday banned Tamil Nadu’s centuries-old Jallikattu bull fights, saying that bulls could not be used as performing animals, either for the Jallikattu or bullock-cart races.
Holding that the rights guaranteed to the bulls under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, could not be taken away or curtailed, a bench of Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose said: “We, therefore, hold that AWBI (Animal Welfare Board of India) is right in its stand that Jallikattu, bullock-cart races and such events per se violate the PCA (Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Act.”
Speaking for the bench, Justice Radhakrishnan said, “Parliament, it is expected, would elevate rights of animals to that of constitutional rights, as done by many of the countries around the world, so as to protect their dignity and honour.”
“Parliament is expected to make proper amendment of the PCA Act to provide an effective deterrent to achieve the object and purpose of the Act and for violation of section 11, adequate penalties and punishments should be imposed,” the court said in its judgment.
Bringing curtains down on Jallikattu, the court junked the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act saying: “TNRJ Act is found repugnant to PCA Act, which is a welfare legislation, hence held constitutionally void, being violative of article 254(1) of the Constitution of India.”
“We uphold the notification dated July 11, 2011 issued by the central government, consequently, bulls cannot be used as performing animals, either for the Jallikattu events or bullock-cart races in the state of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra or elsewhere in the country.”(IANS)
