Jayalalithaa writes to PM Modi, asks for ordinance to conduct Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday urged the central government to issue an ordinance to enable the conduct of Jallikattu after the Supreme Court stayed the bull taming sport. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jayalalithaa said, “I strongly reiterate my earlier request to the government to promulgate an ordinance forthwith to enable the conduct of Jallikattu.” Jayalalithaa’s letter comes after the Supreme Court went against the Centre and stayed a notification that allowed the sport to be organized. The notification, in turn, was issued this year despite the fact that the SC had banned Jallikattu in May 2014. Animal activists challenged the petition in the SC which led to the court ruling in their favour on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_2580920” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image of Jallikattu. AFP[/caption] “As an interim measure, we direct that there shall be stay of notification dated 7 January, 2016 issued by Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF),” a bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and NV Ramana said. The bench also issued notice to the MoEF and Tamil Nadu on petitions filed by various bodies including Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) seeking striking down of the Centre’s notification and sought their replies within four weeks. Jallikattu, also known as Eruthazhuvuthal, is a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day. In 2016, it falls on 16 January. Earlier during the day, a bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur referred the petitions to the present bench as one of the judges Justice Banumathi, who hails from Tamil Nadu, recused from hearing the batch of petitions. The apex court order comes after petitions were filed by Animal Welfare Board and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) India demanding that the Centre’s recent notification allowing Jallikattu and bullock cart races be “struck down”. The four-year-old ban on holding of Jallikattu was lifted on 8 January by the Modi government in poll-bound Tamil Nadu with certain restrictions. The decision to allow Jallikattu along with bullock cart races in other parts of the country had come through a government notification despite strong objections by animal rights groups. In its notification, the Centre had said, “…Central Government, hereby specifies that following animals shall not be exhibited or trained as performing animals with effect from the date of publication of this notification, namely bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers, lions and bulls.” “Provided that bulls may be continued to be exhibited or trained as a performing animal, at events such as Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu and bullock cart races in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala and Gujarat in the manner by customs of any community or practiced traditionally,” it had said. Peta India had said that the Environment Ministry’s notification allowing Jallikattu and bull races had come despite a Supreme Court judgement which held that the Ministry cannot allow these races and cannot modify the notification dated 11 July, 2011 (which banned forcing bulls to perform) without consulting the AWBI. “Terrifying and injuring bulls is abuse, not sport, and this combined with the injuries and deaths of people common at Jallikattu events puts a bloody stain on India’s reputation in the eyes of the world. “Laws and SC verdicts need to mean something and we look to the Supreme Court to confirm once again Jallikattu and bull races must not be allowed,” Peta India Chief Functionary Poorva Joshipura had said. In just four years, from 2010 to 2014, approximately 1,100 injuries to humans were reported by the media as a result of cruel and dangerous Jallikattu-type events and 17 people died, including a child. With inputs from IANS and PTI