The demand aims to stop buffalo fights which are considered an important Bihu culture...
Digital Desk: The Gauhati High Court ordered a notice to all district administrations in Assam to ensure the complete ban of Moh-juj, or buffalo fights.
The Gauhati High Court granted the temporary order today in response to a plea brought by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), India. The demand aims to stop buffalo fights, which are considered an important Bihu culture, throughout the state.
This follows the announcement on Wednesday by PETA India that they have filed a petition in the Gauhati High Court to put an end to the nine-year-old buffalo and bulbul bird wars that have lately taken place in Assam.
Additionally, the Gauhati High Court ordered the Assam government to submit an action taken report to the court regarding the issue. The court has ordered that the report be filed by Tuesday, February 6.
The petition submitted by PETA claimed that the ancient ceremony violated multiple central laws. "As evidence, PETA India submitted investigations into these fights which reveal that terrified and severely injured buffaloes were forced to fight through beatings and that starved and intoxicated bulbuls were made to fight over food," the animal rights group stated in a statement.
On January 15 and 16, during the Bhogali Bihu celebrations, there was a buffalo fight and a bulbul bird fight. After Tamil Nadu's Jallikattu was outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2015, the two were stopped in Assam. But in 2023, the Supreme Court maintained the laws that controlled Karnataka's buffalo and jallikattu races.
The BJP-led Assam government, created new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to permit the battle between buffalo and bulbul birds after the 2023 judgment. Nine years later, on January 15, there was a bulbul bird fight in Hajo, Kamrup district, and on January 16, there was a buffalo fighting in Ahotguri, Nagaon district, as part of the Bhogali Bihu celebrations.
PETA India Advocacy Associate Tushar Kol stated, "Buffaloes and bulbuls are gentle animals who feel pain and terror and don't want to be forced into bloody fights in front of jeering crowds."
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