The tug of war bull run

The petitioner in the now famous jallikattu case is Compassion Unlimited Plus Action. Compassion for the animals or the humans who have been mesmerised into action to tame the bulls and the masses who have been attracted to watch the shows risking their own safety in many ways, is the question.

Animal Welfare Board of India vs. A Nagaraja & Ors [(2014) 7 SCC 547] is the now controversial judgment that banned jallikattu. The Central government on January 7, 2016 issued a notification permitting jallikattu to overcome the order of the Supreme Court and permit jallikattu. This notification has been challenged by Compassion Unlimited Plus Action and the Supreme Court has stayed the same till further hearing of the case.

In the past few years in Tamil Nadu, there have been largescale debates and cries about jallikattu when the countdown to Pongal season starts. The defenders of jallikattu say the petitioners who had sought the stay “do not have any idea about the cultural base of India and there was no justification or necessity to direct stay of the notification”. Jallikattu is said to be a sport. “ Jallikattu is not a fight between bulls and humans, but a game where the participants are required to embrace the running bulls by hanging onto their hump as long as possible; and they are unarmed... the bulls are trained not to let the village youth clamber on to their humps and in no case they are led away by the owners afterwards.” 

Reading the logic behind those who want jallikattu and those who want a ban on jallikattu is interesting and sound. The ‘for’ debaters say it is a 3,000 years old traditional sport / game which has religious, socio-cultural dimensions. It does not harm the bulls or the humans; and customs and traditions are values not to be tampered with. In fact the bulls are well- nurtured for the purpose of jallikattu with special dietary supplements. 

Those who argue against jallikattu are supported by the Supreme Court which in paragraph 42 of the judgment says: “Sections 3 and 11, as already indicated, therefore, confer no right on the organisers of jallikattu or bullock-cart race, but only duties, responsibilities and obligations, but confer corresponding rights on animals. Sections 3, 11(1)(a) & (o) and other related provisions have to be understood and read along with Article 51A(g) of the Constitution which cast fundamental duties on every citizen to have “compassion for living creatures”. Parliament, by incorporating Article 51A(g), has again reiterated and re-emphasised the fundamental duties on human beings towards every living creature, which evidently takes in bulls as well. All living creatures have inherent dignity and a right to live peacefully and the right to protect their well-being, which encompasses protection from beating, kicking, over-driving, over-loading, tortures, pain and suffering etc. Human life, we often say, is not like animal existence, a view having anthropocentric bias, forgetting the fact that animals have also got intrinsic worth and value. Section 3 of the PCA Act has acknowledged those rights and the said section along with Section 11 cast a duty on persons having charge or care of animals to take reasonable measures to ensure well- being of the animals and to prevent infliction of unnecessary pain and suffering.”

Thus the compassionate Constitution of India ordains that we have fundamental duties to be protect the rights of animals. Are we that compassionate in protecting the rights of humans in this country? Our foot paths and roads are full of pot holes, the protrusions on the walkways are potential danger to the passersby. 

The metro stations in London will constantly blare “mind the gap” warnings even while the gap between the train and the platform is just a few centimetres. Our trains stop at least one foot away from the platform. There have been several persons falling between the gaping holes in the railway stations. Vehicles have slid causing injuries to the vehicle users because of not merely poor maintenance of the roads but the humps laid in the guise of speed breakers which do not adhere to any set standards. 

In a country where we have no regard for human lives, where safe passage and not accidents and injuries could be the rule and not the exception, we are debating on whether jallikattu is infringing animal rights or not. A peep into any of our government hospitals is enough to demonstrate our poor concern for common citizens, as their unhygienic maintenance are likely to contaminate and spread diseases rather than heal.

It is time for us to enter into debates without getting emotional. It is true that jallikattu has been a game in existence for the past more than 3,000 years. Could we justify anything due to antiquity? If that were true sati should still be in our law books. Change is progress but change at what cost and for what cause is to be debated. 

The leaders who speak of the virtues of jallikattu are not the ones who indulge in the ‘game’. They do not get hurt by the game. They fan the innocent gullible youth to a game that they are not trained in. True to our reckless driving traditions, jallikattu has nurtured a breed of youth to plunge into it with no training only to exhibit their ‘courage’. Just as we have found reason to license vehicle users / drivers the State has to find means to regulate those who indulge in this game. It is not a right versus wrong committed on the bulls it is also a duty cast on the State to protect the youth and the spectators. There are no safety measures prescribed for the participants or onlookers who are at risk due to the crowded assembly with no regulations. 

World over there are games using animals. Nagrathinam Krishana, the Tamil writer hailing from France in his facebook site on jallikattu says that in European countries such as Spain, bull fight is indulged in the name of corrida de toros, in France it is called la Corrida, Portugal and some Latin American countries also indulge in bull fights. There have been severe opposition and court cases against this game even in France but the Courts have held that this is a traditional game that cannot be banned. In fact, the game involves killing of the bulls unlike in India where the men just embrace the running bulls by hanging on to the animal’s hump as long as possible.

In the name of protection of animals and stopping cruelty to animals, our circuses and motion pictures have become a sad place where only humans are tortured to do the impossible. We are blind to the practice of not letting livestock to even breed naturally, subject them to cruelties beyond endurance to extract farm labour or to pull carts with tons of materials. A holistic approach encompassing compassion with reason, promoting traditional games in secure atmosphere is essential. The need of the hour is to find a rationale to promote jallikattu, with training centres, sports medicine, insurance and other safeguards to make it a game with minimal damage to bulls and humans.