Just a day after AIADMK General Secretary Sasikala Natrajan urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to legalise Jallikattu sport in Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court of India has dismissed the plea just two days prior to Pongal on the same and said that it can’t allow the sport in the state to happen.
The SC said that the draft of the final judgement has been prepared but it is not possible to give a verdict before this Saturday when Pongal will be celebrated in Tamil Nadu.
And now, when the apex court has put the down the case, the AIADMK is urging that the government must intervene in the situation when only two days are left for the Pongal festival.
In 2014, the Supreme Court had imposed a ban on this bull-fighting sport. Last year, it upheld the held the order when it dismissed state government’s review petition.
On January 11, in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister Sasikala told the Prime Minister that her “mentor” and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu who passed away last month was keen that Jallikattu be restored further asking him to promulgate an ordinance for Jallikattu.
“Jallikattu is a traditional sporting event of Tamil Nadu and forms and essential part of the Pongal celebrations. The bulls specially reared for the purpose are tamed by the ardent youths and this sport is not in the least cruel to animals, unlike sporting events including horses, camels, and other animals,” she wrote.
FLASH: SC turns down plea seeking its intervention to pass judgment on Jalikattu before Saturday, says “unfair to ask bench to pass order”
— ANI (@ANI_news) January 12, 2017
On January 9, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has urged to resume the sports Jallikattu on Pongal this year.
He wrote in the letter,”The Pongal festival holds great importance to the people of Tamil Nadu and is less than a week away. Since Jallikattu sport is an integral part of the Pongal festivities, Government of India should consider passing an ordinance removing the legal ban and enabling the conduct of Jallikattu during Pongal, 2017″.
