Supreme Court Refuses To Reconsider Jallikattu Ban Before Pongal

The Apex court of India has decided to turn down a plea seeking intervention in passing a judgment on Jallikattu before the Tamil festival of Pongal due to take place this Saturday. As per news agency ANI, the court said it is not possible to deliver a verdict before.

The court banned the sport in 2014 citing animal cruelty, and upheld the order last year and dismissed the state government’s review petition. This statement of the court comes a day after the Centre claimed “things are ready” on its side, and that it will wait for the order of the court.

The DMK called the order disheartening and announced state wide protest over Jallikattu.The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, O Panneerselvam had said -

Myself and the the Tamil Nadu government, who follow in the footsteps of Amma (Jayalalithaa), will ensure that Jallikattu is held. We will not back off even a bit. I would like to assure the people of Tamil Nadu that we will uphold the heritage and culture of the Tamils.

V K Sasikala , the AIADMK general secretary also wrote a letter to PM Modi on the same issue. The Minster of Environmental Affairs, Anil Madhav Dave met a delegation led by AIADMK leader M Thambidurai regarding the issue where he blamed the previous UPA government. Dave also added that bulls are not ill-treated during the performance and wished the Supreme Court would look into all aspects of the case.