The Indian government has allowed the controversial sport of bull-taming called Jallikattu to be held in the southern state of Tamil Nadu with "proper safeguards and without cruelty to animals", overriding a Supreme Court ban from last year.
The decision met with protests from animal rights activists who argue that the sport is dangerous and cruel. People for Ethical Treatment for Animals (PETA) said that they would challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. However, local political leaders and supporters argue that Jallikattu is an integral part of the state's heritage. With elections due in the state in this year, the decision has been linked to electoral politics rather than a love for traditional sports.
The traditional centuries-old sport is organised during the harvest festival of Pongal on 15 January every year across Tamil Nadu. With reports of several people dying and getting injured in the ritual over the years, a law was enacted to regulate the event and protect participants.
Last year, India's Supreme Court had banned the sport under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. "Forcing and pulling the bull by a nose rope into the narrow, closed enclosure or ‘vadi vassal’ (entry point), subjecting it to all forms of torture, fear, pain and suffering by forcing it to go the arena and also over-powering it in the arena by bull tamers, are not for the well-being of the animal," the bench had said in its statement.
Under the new regulations, exhibition sports involving bears, lions, tigers, panthers and monkeys are banned, but bullock cart races and Jallikattu are permitted if they adhere to the norms.