Guwahati: Centuries-old practice of organising bulbul fight at the forecourt of ancient Hayagriva Madhab Mandir at Hajo in Assam during Bhogali Bihu – that coincides with Makar Sankranti — festival has been restricted by Gauhati High Court.
A single judge bench of the High Court on Tuesday stayed an earlier order vacating the Kamrup district administration’s move to prohibit bulbul fights in the 16th-century Hayagriva Madhava temple located about 45 km from here.
It was in January 2015, Assam government had issued an order prohibiting bulbul fights in the temple.
The order was contested by the temple committee in December last year and a single bench of the Gauhati high court then vacated the district administration’s order on December 22 last year.
The court then asked Assam government to keep in abeyance its notification prohibiting bulbul fight.
Tuesday’s High Court order came after the Animal Welfare Board of India, a statuary body under the Union ministry of environment and forest, had challenged the high court’s previous order. The board said such fights amounted to an act of cruelty against animals and violated the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
The court stayed the earlier order till the next hearing on January 20 by which Bhogali Bihu festival will be over. The age-old practice of bulbul fights draws a large crowd to the temple premises on Bhogali Bihu which is the most popular harvest festival in Assam that falls on Makar Sankranti.
