Government rekla race held in Kovai runs into controversy

A. Amalraj, Commissioner of Police, said on Tuesday that he would verify whether permission has been granted to conduct the event. But, what goes in contradiction with the CoP’s statement was the rekla race organised by the state government in association with TNRC. 

Ironically, the police had arranged security measures by deputing 600 personnel for the event. However, there was no reference to rekla race in the gazette notification issued by the Governor on January 21.  

TNRC president RS Thirumugam claimed that PeTA which filed a case seeking a ban on jallikattu alleging cruelty to bulls, did not mention rekla race in its petition. “PeTA never mentioned rekla race in its petition and there was no ban on rekla all these years. But, bulls were barred from shows where they are used as performing animals after an amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act. 

Following this, a ban was imposed on the conduct of jallikattu. Even though there was no direct ban on rekla race, the new provision on use of bulls affected rekla race also from 2014,” he told DTNext. “The gazette notification has not mentioned rekla race because there was as such no ban on the sport. 

The issue was on jallikattu, so the notification confined to that sport. As the decks have been cleared for that sport, the curbs on rekla race also has automatically been removed. Moreover, the race in Coimbatore was organised by the government. Had there been a ban on the sport it would not have been conducted at all,” he added. 

Adding fuel to the fire was a press release of the district administration which announced that cash prizes of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 were given to the first three winners. In reality, on Sunday only four pairs of bulls were present and only one pair took part in the race which came to an abrupt end following violent protests.  Reacting to this, Thirumugam said “No cash prize was given. The participants were given saplings. The information in the press release of the district administration regarding the cash prize should be investigated.”