A five member Constitution Bench consisting of Justice KM Joseph, Justice Ajay Rastogi, Justice Aniruddha Bose, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice CT Ravikumar on 18th of May upheld the validity of amendments made by Tamil Nadu to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA Act). The constitutional bench of Supreme Court therefore permitted the Jallikattu and Kambala. Jallikattu” is a bull-taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as part of the Pongal harvest festival.

The bench upheld the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of 2017 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Conduct of Jallikattu) Rules of 2017. The bench remarked that the sport is at least one century old and did not go into the question of whether Jallikattu is an integral part of Tamil culture. It said the answer requires a detailed analysis and that the legislature would be more appropriate to do so.

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