Khairthal-Tijara: Seventeen Booked for Illegal Cockfighting Following PETA India Complaint

For Immediate Release:

16 October 2025

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Khairthal-Tijara – Following information received from a whistleblower regarding an illegal cockfighting event scheduled to be held on 28 September at Ladiya village, Tijara tehsil, Khairthal-Tijara district, Rajasthan—People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India) sprang into action and alerted senior police officials. Despite a police warning, the organisers proceeded with the illegal event. Upon being informed that the cockfight had begun, the police reached the location immediately and stopped the event midway. Tapukara police station registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the organisers, participants and animal owners of this illegal event.

An FIR was registered under Sections 325 and 112(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and Section 13 of the Rajasthan Public Gambling Ordinance, 1949. The FIR also invokes Sections 3, 11(1)(a), 11(1)(m)(ii), and 11(1)(n) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, which prohibits causing unnecessary pain and suffering to animals, inciting them to fight, and keeping or managing places for such fights. The FIR, registered by the police on 28 September, names 17 individuals as accused of organising and participating in the illegal event. Seven roosters and two young hens were rescued during the operation and have been sent to a reputed sanctuary for permanent rehabilitation.

Photos of the rescued animals and the police action are available upon request.

“Cockfighting events are inherently cruel, dangerous and encourage gambling and violence in society,” says Divya Chavan, Emergency Response Coordinator, PETA India. “And forcing roosters to fight is punishable under Indian laws. We commend the Khairthal-Tijara police, especially Shri Prashant Kiran, IPS, Superintendent of Police, Khairthal-Tijara; Shri Shivraj Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police; and Tapukara police station, for sending a strong message that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated.”

Forced to fight, roosters used in cockfights suffer injuries like punctured lungs, broken bones and pierced eyes. Their legs are often fitted with razor-sharp steel blades that have even killed and injured cockfighters and spectators. Illegal cockfighting events are associated with gambling and liquor consumption and are a menace in more ways than one. The transport and handling of roosters for cockfights significantly heightens the risk of spreading deadly bird flu, endangering public health.

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 prohibits inciting animals to fight. In a landmark judgment in 2014, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of the petitioners, PETA India, and the government advisory body, the Animal Welfare Board of India, establishing that bullfighting, dogfighting, and any other staged fights between animals, including between humans and other animals, for entertainment, must end.

PETA India – whose motto reads, “Animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X , Facebook, or Instagram. 

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