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Top court upholds validity of TN govt’s law permitting Jallikattu

ByAbraham Thomas
May 19, 2023 12:49 AM IST

The top court in 2014 had banned these sports holding them to be violative of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, (PCA), 1960.

New Delhi

The bench said Jallikattu is a type of bovine sport and “we are satisfied on the basis of materials disclosed before us, that it is going on in the state of Tamil Nadu for at least last few centuries”.
The bench said Jallikattu is a type of bovine sport and “we are satisfied on the basis of materials disclosed before us, that it is going on in the state of Tamil Nadu for at least last few centuries”.

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the validity of laws passed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka to allow the bull-taming sport Jallikattu, bullock-cart races and buffalo racing sport Kambala in their respective regions, saying they are “valid legislations”.

In a unanimous verdict, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph noted that The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2017, The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 2017 and The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Second Amendment) Act, 2017 were enacted by the respective state legislatures and had received presidential assent.

The top court in 2014 had banned these sports holding them to be violative of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, (PCA), 1960.

While the 2014 judgment was by a two-judge bench, the present decision by five-judge bench unanimously held that the three laws were not “colourable legislations” but valid piece of laws as additional safeguards introduced by these amendments minimised cruelty caused to animals.

Jallikattu, also known eruthazhuvuthal, is a sport played in Tamil Nadu as part of the Pongal harvest festival. The Kambala race, held in Karnataka between November and March, involves a pair of buffaloes tied to a plough and anchored by one person.

The bench said Jallikattu is a type of bovine sport and “we are satisfied on the basis of materials disclosed before us, that it is going on in the state of Tamil Nadu for at least last few centuries”.

The laws were declared to be constitutional and not violative of Article 21 (right to life and liberty), Article 14 (right to equality) and fundamental duties under Article 51A that seeks to encourage compassion for animals.

A bench of justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Anirudhha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar, in its unanimous verdict said: “The argument that the Amendment Acts are void because they seek to override the judgment of A. Nagaraja v Animal Welfare Board (2014) cannot be sustained as the basis of that judgment having regard to the nature and manner in which the offending activities were carried on has been altered.”

Accepting that Jallikattu has been played in Tamil Nadu for centuries, the court did not undertake the task of discovering whether the sport is part of the cultural heritage of the state and its people.

Since the 2014 judgment held a view that it does not, the bench overruled this part of its previous order and said: “We do not accept the view reflected in the case of A Nagaraja that performance of Jallikattu is not a part of the cultural heritage of the people of the state of Tamil Nadu. We do not think there was sufficient material before the Court for coming to this conclusion.”

Such an exercise, the bench held, ought not be a part of judicial inquiry and cannot be conclusively determined in a writ proceeding. Instead, the judges held: “The question as to whether the Tamil Nadu Amendment Act is to preserve the cultural heritage of a particular State is a debateable issue which has to be concluded in the House of the People.”

Since the 2017 amendment introduced by Tamil Nadu described Jallikattu as part of the state’s cultural heritage, the bench said, “Since legislative exercise has already been undertaken and Jallikattu has been found to be part of cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu, we would not disrupt this view of the legislature.”

At the same time, the bench warned that if such “cultural event or tradition offends the law, the penal consequence would follow”. “Such activities cannot be justified on the ground of being part of cultural tradition of a state,” it added.

Another aspect on which the five-judge bench differed from the 2014 judgment was on the finding that bulls being draught animals cannot be made to run like horses.

The three laws were challenged by various organisations and individuals on the ground that it violated the 2014 judgment and could not enjoy the defence of being part of state’s culture and heritage when the manner in which it is conducted continued to cause pain and suffering to the bulls, bullocks, buffaloes.

The bench said: “The defects pointed out in the aforesaid two judgments have been overcome by the State Amendment Act read with the Rules made in that behalf.”

To ensure rules under the amended laws are complied with, the bench directed the district magistrates or other competent authorities to be held responsible for ensuring strict compliance of the law.

The Court held that the states were empowered to enact the laws as prevention of cruelty to animals was a subject relatable to Entry 17 of Concurrent List (List 3) of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. However, the argument by TN that the law seeks to ensure survival and well-being of the native breeds of bulls was rejected by the Court.

In February 2018, a two-judge bench formulated five questions to be answered by a Constitution Bench and in December 2021, the matter came before a five-judge bench. In December last year, judgment was reserved in this case.

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