Supreme Court Allows Cruel Jallikattu and Other Bull Torture Events, Throwing India Into the Dark Ages

For Immediate Release:

19 May 2023

Contact: 

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]  

Sachin Bangera; [email protected] 

Delhi – Today, following petitions filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and other animal protection organisations and activists challenging the extraordinarily cruel jallikattu, kambala, and bullock cart races allowed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra states, respectively, the constitution bench of the Honourable Supreme Court of India pronounced a judgement allowing the said events.  

“Gladiator games involving animals were ended by around the 7th century CE, and countries around the world are prohibiting animal circuses and other cruel events. Yet in 2023, the Indian Supreme Court has allowed sensitive bulls to endure terror, beatings, broken bones, and bloody wounds in jallikattu and bull racing events, throwing the country into the Dark Ages,” says PETA India Deputy Director of Advocacy Projects Harshil Maheshwari. “PETA India is calling on everyone to steer clear of shameful spectacles that exploit bulls and buffaloes as we explore legal remedies to protect these long-suffering animals.”  

In 2014, the Supreme Court passed a detailed and well-reasoned judgement in Animal Welfare Board of India vs A Nagaraja & Ors, holding jallikattu and bull races to be unconstitutional and in violation of the rights guaranteed to animals under the Constitution of India and The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960. However, after this judgement was passed, the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra amended the PCA Act to allow jallikattu, kambala, and bullock cart races, respectively. All three state amendments were challenged by PETA India. 

Gladiator games took place in Ancient Rome, starting around 264 BCE, and ended hundreds of years ago. They often involved animals and are recognised today as inhumane and uncivilized. Yet, year after year, PETA India’s eyewitness investigations have documented bulls being deliberately terrorised and hit, painfully yanked by their nose ropes, and jabbed with nail-studded weapons at jallikattu and bull racing events.  

Since the Tamil Nadu government allowed jallikattu in 2017, at least 33 bulls and 104 humans have been killed outright and 8,388 humans have been injured in events throughout the state, according to various news reports. Since many bull deaths and human injuries are not reported, these figures are likely vast underestimates.  

The findings of PETA India’s 2022 investigation into jallikattu events can be viewed and downloaded here. PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “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 Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. 

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