The stage is set for a showdown between the Supreme Court and the Tamil Nadu Government after the former rejected a plea urging it to pass judgement on allowing Jallikattu, the bull taming sport banned by the SC, before the harvest festival of Pongal on Saturday.
Even as the TN Government has said that it would go ahead with Jallikattu, a Bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi told a group of lawyers, who requested for the verdict, that it was unfair to ask the Bench to pass an order.
The apex court, however, said that the draft of the judgement had been prepared but it was not possible to deliver it before Saturday when Jallikattu is to be organised.
The uncertainty associated with the conducting of Jallikattu has led to an ugly situation with all leading political parties in TN coming out in the open against the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre.
Thousands of youths, including college students across the State protested on Thursday shouting slogans against the Narendra Modi Government and the BJP for its indifference towards the ban on the popular sport.
“This is a spontaneous protest by students. There were no leaders to lead them but the youth took to the streets on their own. This is a strange phenomenon as this is the first time in recent history a demonstration of this kind is happening in the State,” said G K Nagaraj, president, Kongunadu Jananayaga Katchi.
Earlier, the apex court had observed that the country cannot “import a Roman Gladiator-type of sport” as it is against the culture of compassion towards animals.
The court in its 2014 judgement had said that bulls could not be used as performing animals, either for Jallikattu events or for bullock-cart races in the States of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra or elsewhere in the country, and had banned their use across the country.
The apex court had also dismissed the review petition against its 2014 verdict. The SC had also earlier declared TN Regulation of Jallikattu Act, 2009 as constitutionally void, being violative or Article 254(1) of the Constitution.
On January 8, last year the Centre had issued a notification lifting a ban on Jallikattu in TN with certain restrictions, which was challenged in the SC by the Animal Welfare Board of India, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, a Bangalore-based NGO and others.
On July 26, last year the SC had said that just because the bull-taming sport of Jallikattu was a centuries-old tradition, it could not be justified.
It had said if the parties were able to convince the court that its earlier judgement was wrong, it might refer the matter to a larger Bench. The SC had on January 21, last year refused to re-examine its 2014 judgement banning use of bulls for Jallikattu events or bullock-cart races across the country. The apex court had also stayed the January 8 notification of the Centre.