How Maharashtra got its ban on bull races lifted

The Supreme Court recently green-lighted the conduct of the traditional bullock cart race in Maharashtra, observing that there is no reason to stop it when similar sports like Jallikattu are allowed in other parts of the country.

A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar allowed the races, held especially in Pune and western Maharashtra between January and western Maharashtra, to be conducted till a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court takes a final call on the matter.

What the order said

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday had urged the top court to remove the ban on bullock cart races held in the state, as similar events are allowed in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the court cannot allow a 2014 ban by the apex court to be implemented in Maharashtra alone when the other two states have passed amendments to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 to exempt their respective sports from its purview. The top court said that the amended provisions of the act and rules framed by Maharashtra will be operational during the pendency of the petitions before the constitutional bench.

“One country, one race, we need to have uniformity and there has to be one rule. If the races are going on in other states, why should it not be allowed by Maharashtra,” Justice Khanwilkar said.

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“It is a traditional sport going on for several years. Judgment came and it was stopped. Then amendment came allowed in a regulated manner. If it is a traditional sport and going on all across the country except Maharashtra, it does not appeal common sense,” he added referring to the 2104 verdict of Supreme Court which banned the conduct of Jallikattu over cruelty towards bulls under the PCA Act.

Ban on bull races in Maharashtra

Bullock cart races were banned in the state following the Supreme Court’s 2014 order to stop the conduct of any bull sports in the country.

Even though Maharashtra, just like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, passed The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill in the Assembly followed by an assent by then President Pranab Mukherjee in 2017 to restart the bull race, the Bombay High Court in August passed an interim order banning the government from giving permission to hold such races in the state.

In October the same year, the high court refused to vacate its stay on the sport, stating that bulls were not meant for races and using them for the same would amount to cruelty.

Provisions of Maharashtra’s Bill

The Bill defines “bullock cart race”, also called ‘Bailgada Sharyat’, ‘Chhakadi’ and ‘Shankarpat’ in Maharashtra, as an “event involving bulls or bullocks to conduct a race, whether tied to cart with the help of wooden yoke or not (by whatever name called), with or without a cartman with a view to follow tradition and culture on such days and in any district where it is being traditionally held at such places.”

As per the Bill, the event needs the previous approval of the concerned collector in the district where it is traditionally held. It gives the rider that the event can be held only on the condition that “no pain or suffering as envisaged or under the Act is caused to the animal by any person or person in charge of the animal used to conduct bullock cart race and subject to such other conditions as may be prescribed by rules under section 38B by the state government”.

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A person who flouts the rules shall be punished with a fine of up to ₹5 lakh or imprisonment up to three years, the Bill says.

Why Maharashtra moved SC

After the Bombay High Court refused to vacate its stay on the sport, Maharashtra government in November 2017 formed a committee to examine the running ability of various breeds of bulls and bullocks as compared to horses and the physiological and biochemical changes the bovines experience during the act.

The committee came out with a report ‘Running ability of bull’ within two months, based on which the BJP-Shiv Sena government challenged the high court’s order in the Supreme Court in 2018.