Jallikattu notification: SC to hear pleas today

Petitions seeking an urgent hearing on the issue were mentioned before a bench, headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, which agreed to hear it on Tuesday. The pleas were filed by Animal Welfare Board of India, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and a Bangalore-based NGO. 

The four-year-old ban on jallikattu was lifted on January 8 by the Modi government in poll-bound Tamil Nadu with certain restrictions. The decision to allow jallikattu, days before traditional festival Pongal begins along with bullock cart races in other parts of the country, had come through a government notification.

“...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,” the notification had said. 

However, the Centre had also put some conditions while lifting the ban on the sport. The use of bulls in performances was banned by the UPA government in 2011 on the ground that the sport ended in cruelty to animals.