After a morning of violent protests across the state of Tamil
Nadu, the state assembly on Monday passed a bill that replaces an ordinance and
legalises jallikattu, the bull taming sport, in the state. The bill, which was
tabled by Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, was passed within minutes of its
introduction. The bill replaced the ordinance that was promulgated on Saturday
amending the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The latest development comes
at a time when peaceful protest over the issue turned violent over allowing the
bull-taming sport across the state.
Earlier on Monday, Chennai police started evicting scores of
pro-jallikattu demonstrators from protest venues across the state, especially
from the Marina Beach, which was the epicentre of the stir for the past one
week. Reports also said that the protesters resorted to stone-pelting and
police lathicharged.
At the Marina, the police
action began early on Monday morning with roads to the beach being cordoned off
and police personnel being deployed in large numbers. Some protesters lined up
at the seashore forming a human chain and a group entered the water refusing to
heed police requests to disperse.
Some others staged a
sit-in on the sands while others regrouped in nearby areas, shouting slogans
and allegedly throwing stones on policemen.
Police burst teargas
shells and reportedly lathi charged to chase away a section of protesters who
had regrouped at Triplicane near Marina Beach and allegedly started throwing
stones at police personnel.
The protesters had been
demonstrating for the past one week demanding lifting of the ban on jallikattu.
Despite promulgation of an
ordinance on Saturday for conducting the bull-taming sport, they had vowed to
carry on with their protest till a permanent solution was found to ensure that
the sport is held annually without any hindrance.
TV visuals showed men and
women in khaki physically removing protesters from the beach. At Coimbatore,
police forcibly evicted the protesters from VOC Park Grounds here where they
were agitating for the last six days. As the appeal made by senior officials to
clear the grounds failed, police in large numbers started to bodily lift the
protesters and shift them out of the venue.
Women police personnel
were seen taking women agitators, some elderly and some with babies in their
arms, out of the grounds, despite them appealing with folded hands not to
disturb the peaceful agitation.
Even as some protesters
were seen leaving the venue voluntarily, police removed nearly 300 protesters
from there, police said.
Protesting against the
police action, some youths formed a human chain on the main Avanashi chain and
police made a 'mild' cane charge to disperse them, police said.
A section of protesters
were raising slogans in support of their demand for a permanent act for
conducting jallikkatu and against Peta and police, near the Central Jail, some
200 metres from the venue, prompting the police to take into custody nearly 300
people, they said.
Police said they had
cleared the ground, venue for the Republic Day function, and it is under
control of the district administration and police.
Protests are reportedly
continuing in Madurai with demonstrators allegedly throwing stones at police in
Alanganallur even as officials are trying to persuade the agitators to
disperse.
Police forcibly removed
protesters from protest venues at Alanganallur, famous for jallikattu events,
when they refused to heed to their repeated requests to disperse.
According to Alanganallur
police, 20 people, many of them policemen, were injured in stone-pelting by
protesters. Roads near the protest venue was strewn with stones, glass pieces
and logs.
Alanganallur village is
now under the control of the police, they added.
Police said protesters at
Cuddalore, Tirunelveli and Erode had dispersed. Earlier, the Alanganallur
village committee, which was satisfied with the ordinance, had agreed to hold
jallikattu on February 1 and thanked those who participated in the agitation in
favour of the bull-taming sport.
Though the decision of the
local committee was made through public announcement system, some miscreants at
the agitation venue refused to disperse and started pelting stones, police
said. There was a scuffle between police and some youths in which protesters
were injured. Police were forced to take action as several rounds of talks
failed, an official said.
Police said the situation
was fully under control and some persons who were seen instigating the crowd
have been detained for questioning. Meanwhile, DIG of Police Anand Somani led a
flag march in the village to boost the confidence of the local people.
In Madurai, Additional SP
Murugesh held talks with protesting students and urged them to disperse. One
woman was injured in the scuffle between police and youths in the city. Police
resorted to lathicharge at two places in Coimbatore to disperse protesters who
allegedly indulged in stone pelting against the security force.
A group of students of a
private engineering college squatted on the airport road to protest eviction
from VOC Park Grounds and seeking a permanent solution to the jallikkattu
issue.
Police resorted to mild
lathicharge after they refused to disperse, police said. Three police
personnel, including a woman, were injured when they started pelting stones.
The injured have been admitted to the government hospital, they said.
Meanwhile, some 200 people sat on dharna near the Central Bus stand in
Gandhipuram to protest police action. Police managed to chase them away.
According to police, about
300 persons, including students, who were removed from VOC Park grounds during
the crackdown and lodged at a marriage hall, refused to have lunch and
announced their decision to observe a fast, police said.
The legal situation surrounding jallikattu is as yet not
clearly resolved. Some, such as Ministry of External Affairs cabinet minister Salman Khurshid,
have stated that the matter will only be truly resolved if the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is amended as local ordinances and state laws cannot trump Indian federal
law.According to The
Hindu, many other Indian legal experts agreed with Khurshid's view, as
federal laws such as the PCA are always more powerful than state laws, and in
that respect the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of
2017 is not much different from the state law overturned in 2009. For its part, PETA India has said
that it will "study" the new ordinance, and has not ruled out a
challenge to the new law on the same grounds as it challenged the 2009 law On Jan 25, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) started the legal process
towards another ban by formally challenging the new law before the Supreme
Court, but they withdrew the
petition on Jan
28.Jallikattu
protesters demand permanent solution
CM
Panneerselvam prevented from inaugurating Alanganallur festival
CHENNAI, JANUARY 22:
The Tamil Nadu
government’s efforts to conduct Jallikattu on the strength of an ordinance
promulgated on Saturday met with limited success as protesters rejected the
celebrations demanding a permanent solution to the Supreme Court ban on the
traditional sport.
Protesters at
the hub of the bull-taming sport at Alanganallur in South Tamil Nadu prevented
the conduct of the festival, which was to be inaugurated by Chief Minister O
Panneerselvam. The Chief Minister, who said he would inaugurate the event at 10
am on Sunday, returned to Chennai stating that the ordinance allows the conduct
of Jallikattu and the people of Alanganallur can do so whenever they feel like
it.
Similar
official events planned elsewhere also met with resistance. However, the event
was conducted in a few places in Tiruchi and Pudukottai.
Hundreds of
thousands of protesters State-wide rejected the State government’s move stating
that an ordinance by the State is only a temporary solution. They demanded that
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act be amended by Parliament.
“We don’t need
an ordinance, but a permanent solution to be able to hold Jallikattu every
year,” said J Selvi, a student and native of Kumbakonam, who has been camping
at the Marina beach, along with thousands of protesters. The beach has become
the central venue for the demonstrations over the past week. Similar protests
in various parts of Tamil Nadu are also seeing mass public participation.
‘An eyewash’
Sudhakar, a law
student, said: “Jallikattu is Tamilians’ right. An ordinance is just an eyewash
and a stop-gap solution to disperse us. However, we will not move from here
till a permanent solution is found.”
Legal experts
felt that a State ordinance or Act that runs contrary to a Central Act may not
be effective. However, in interactions with the media, the Chief Minister
asserted that the ordinance clears all hurdles to the conduct of Jallikattu,
and it would be replaced with a law to be enacted in the Assembly session
starting on Monday.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has also assured the Centre’s support for the State government’s
decision.
But the
protesters have held their ground and demonstrations continued.
The Supreme
Court had used the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960
to ban the sport in 2014. Since then, the Court has stood firm and dismissed a
review petition by the State government. It has reserved judgement on a
notification by the Union Environment Ministry in January 2016 to get around
the ban.
Trains cancelled
As a fallout of
the demonstrations, the Railways has cancelled 19 express trains to southern
parts of Tamil Nadu.
The protests
started in a sporadic way last week with a few hundred gathering at the Marina
beach in Chennai, in Madurai and elsewhere. But the movement, fuelled by social
media, caught the imagination of the public, resulting in mass participation.
The ordinance
was on Saturday passed by Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao, with the approval
of President Pranab Mukherjee
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