BLOOD DRENCHED & BEATEN: PETA India Moves Gauhati High Court With Latest Investigation into Violent & Illegal Buffalo Fights

In a matter set to be heard today, citing the flagrant organisation of buffalo fights (Moh juj) across several districts of Assam during Magh Bihu, PETA India has filed disturbing new evidence of extreme cruelty to buffaloes from this year with the Gauhati High Court. PETA India is seeking accountability and urgent action against the unlawful events that took place and immediate intervention to prevent any future events from being held in open defiance of the Gauhati High Court’s orders and the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in Animal Welfare Board of India v. A. Nagaraja.

PETA India’s documentation, placed on record, from illegal events in Morigaon and Nagaon this year, shows blood-soaked buffaloes with gaping open wounds being nearly constantly beaten with thick sticks during the events and yanked by nose ropes to be forced to fight, resulting in severe injuries. The documentation also shows one man being pummeled by a fleeing buffalo. 

In December 2024, acting on petitions filed by PETA India, the Gauhati High Court quashed the Assam government’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) dated 27 December 2023, which had allowed buffalo and bulbul bird fights during a certain time of the year (in January). The Gauhati High Court further held the SOP to be in violation of the judgment dated 7 May 2014 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Animal Welfare Board of India vs. A. Nagaraja, which prohibits animal spectacles involving inherent cruelty.

Despite these clear and binding judicial directions, illegal buffalo fights were organised in Assam earlier this year—under the very nose of the authorities. PETA India had submitted multiple representations to the concerned district and police authorities in advance, warning that these events would amount to blatant violations of statutory duties and contempt of court, and filed numerous formal complaints against the organisers, pursuant to which only two FIRs were registered in Sibasagar and Gomotha Pathar, Nagaon under Sections 3 and 11(1)(a), (l), (m),(n) & 22 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, along with Section 325, 291 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). However, FIRs were not registered for complaints regarding illegal fight events that took place in Ahatguri, Gormori Gaon, Mikirbheta, Roha, Majrahola Dal Pathar, and Dibrugarh. Effective action was not taken in any of the complaints, even where an FIR was registered; the victim animals were not seized, as required by law.

PETA India reiterates that buffaloes are sentient, gentle animals who experience pain and fear and who do not naturally want to run or fight. PETA India also notes that such fights are inherently cruel, as the very purpose of them is to cause immeasurable pain and suffering to the animals forced to participate, and contradict the tenets of ahimsa (non-violence) and compassion, which are integral to Indian culture and tradition.