animal rights
Prashant Bhushan, acting for the NGO Angel Trust, has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court that more stringent punishments should be levied against those convicted of cruelty against animals, particularly in the pet shops industry.
The Supreme Court yesterday declined to entertain three review petitions of its original 7 May 2014 judgment banning Jallikattu, reported The Hindu, only a week after the Supreme Court had ordered that the Centre’s restarting of Jallikattu was illegal and declined to vacate its order.
As reported by Legally India on 20 January, the bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and Pinaki Chandra Ghose had allocated five minutes for the review hearing.
After having lost two rounds in the Supreme Court, first on 12 January and again on on 13 January the Jallikattu fans in Tamil Nadu appear to be a determined lot, keeping all their hopes in the Apex Court once again.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to vacate its order barring the bull taming sport Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu that is held during Pongal festivities beginning on Thursday.
An apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice NV Ramana declined to lift an earlier order that put on hold a central government notification allowing Jallikattu and bull races.
Rejecting the contention of petitioner Ramakrishna, the judges said they were not inclined to vacate the Supreme Court order of Tuesday prohibiting Jallikattu on grounds of cruelty to the bulls.
Jallikattu, an ancient sport, is held in rural parts of Tamil Nadu during Pongal festival. It involves young men clinging on to the hump of bulls to win prize money.
The Supreme Court will hear at 3 p.m. on Wednesday a bunch of petitions seeking vacation of the stay on the bull taming sport Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu.
Counsel Raja Ramana, appearing for the petitioners, told an apex court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra that Jallikattu was a matter of faith and believers viewed bull as a god.
He told the court that no cruelty was involved in Jallikattu, an ancient sport in which young men try to cling on to the hump of the bull for a certain amount of time in order to win prize money.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday put a bar on Jallikattu citing cruelty to animals. The event figures prominently during Pongal festivities in Tamil Nadu that start on Thursday.
The Supreme Court has stayed the Centre’s notification that allowed Central Government’s notification allowing Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu.
The Supreme Court bench comprising the Chief Justice TS Thakur, and Justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi, is set to hear as many as five writ petitions challenging the validity of the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change on 7 January permitting the holding of jallikattu and other related festivals involving the performance of bulls in religious festivals, despite the Supreme Court’s 2014 judgment holding it illegal.
In a notification issued on 7 January, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, has suggested that bulls may continue 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 the customs of any community or practiced traditionally under the customs or as a part of culture, in any part of the country.
In a significant ruling, a federal judge in San Francisco has declined to give a macaque monkey the right to his famous selfie in Indonesia in 2011.
The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the central and Kerala governments on a public interest suit seeking immediate halt to the killing of street dog by Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation.
Notice has also been issued to Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation.
A bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant sought the response of the governments and the civic body as as public interest petitioner Anupam Tripathi described as illegal and cruel the killing of the street and stray dogs.
Having issued notice returnable in two weeks, the court asked senior counsel Dushyant Dave to assist the court in the matter as it directed next hearing of the matter on 26 October.
Tripathi told the court that the decision to cull the stray dogs was against the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the Animal Birth Control Rules and the other penal provisions.
The culling of the stray dogs is being carried out following an all-party meeting 9 July, with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the chair, where it was decided eliminate more than 2.5 lakh street dogs.
The reported comments of the Chief Justice of India, Justice HL Dattu, while refusing to entertain a petition from a journalist from Chennai seeking a ban on the sacrifice of animals during religious festivals across the country, have led to considerable consternation.
The NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has recognised former Supreme Court Justice KS Panicker Radhakrishnan its man of the year award. In a press release, PETA wrote:
For heading the bench that passed the landmark judgement in favour of PETA India and the government body the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) clarifying that bulls must not be used in jallikattu, bull races, bullfights or any other type of performance and that called for animals to be respected in many other ways, Honourable Justice (Retd.) Mr. K.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan, Supreme Court of India (SC), is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India’s Man of the Year.
Article 51a (g) of the Indian Constitution makes it the requirement of every Indian citizen to have compassion for living creatures,"explains PETA India CEO. “Retired Judge Radhakrishnan and Fernandez are role models in our society who uphold this mandate for kindness to animals through the actions they take, as we all should.”
The groundbreaking SC judgement passed earlier this year also referenced the concept of “speciesism”—discrimination against others simply for being another species—and compared it to other recognized wrongs: racism, castism and sexism. It also made clear that staged fights between animals, like cockfighting and dog-fighting, for entertainment must not be permitted; that education about humane treatment of animals is imperative; and that stronger penalties for cruelty to animals must be passed; among other animal-friendly verdicts.
NGO workers attacked by a violent mob, saved by police, then arrested by them.
Supreme Court justices KS Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghose have banned Tamil Nadu bull fighting at the Jallikattu festival, which "severely harmed" the bulls and was illegal under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA) BBC.
The judges wrote: "Bulls cannot be used as performing animals, either for the Jallikattu events or Bullock-cart Races in the State of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra or elsewhere in the country. We, therefore, make the following declarations and directions: 1) We declare that the rights guaranteed to the Bulls under Sections 3 and 11 of PCA Act read with Articles 51A(g) & (h) are cannot be taken away or curtailed, except under Sections 11(3) and 28 of PCA Act." Judgment
NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has won its nearly two-year legal battle to move an elephant, named Sunder, to a sanctuary in Bangalore, after shooting video footage of Sunder having been beaten, chained and abused by his keeper at a temple.
Senior counsel Shiraz Rustomjee and advocate Rohan Rajadyaksha, instructed by K Ashar & Co Advocates & Solicitors appeared for PETA. [Economic Times]