The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the validity of the amended act of Tamil Nadu allowing the bull-taming sport Jallikattu, with state political parties welcoming the verdict while animal rights activists expressed disappointment and insisted they will look for legal remedies.
The apex court also showed the green flag to Maharashtra and Karnataka for their bullock-cart races and buffalo racing sport “Kambala”, respectively.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph, which delivered a unanimous verdict, dealt with five questions referred to it by a two-judge bench of the apex court in 2018.
“Our decision on the Tamil Nadu Amendment Act would also guide the Maharashtra and Karnataka Amendment Acts and we find all the three amendment Acts to be valid legislations,” said the bench, also comprising justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar.
The bench delivered its verdict on a batch of pleas which had challenged the Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka amendment laws allowing “Jallikattu”, bullock-cart races and “Kambala”.
Reading out the operative portion of the judgement, Justice Bose said that law contained in these Acts, rules and notifications shall be strictly enforced by the authorities.
“The Tamil Nadu Amendment Act is not a piece of colourable legislation. It relates in pith and substance to Entry 17 of List III of Seventh schedule to the Constitution of India,” the apex court said, adding it minimises cruelty to animals in the concerned sports.
The bench said “Jallikattu” is a type of bovine sports and it is satisfied on the basis of materials disclosed before the court that it is going on in Tamil Nadu for at least last few centuries.
“But whether this has become integral part of Tamil culture or not requires religious, cultural and social analysis in greater detail, which in our opinion is an exercise that can’t be undertaken by the judiciary,” it said.
“The question as to whether the Tamil Nadu Amendment Act is to preserve the cultural heritage of a particular state is a debatable issue which has to be concluded in the house of the people,” it added.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and AIADMK leader K Palaniswami among others hailed the verdict.
“The verdict delivered by the Supreme Court bench that there is no ban on holding jallikattu, a sport reflecting Tamils’ bravery and culture is worth engraving in gold in the history of Tamil Nadu,” Stalin tweeted.