Jallikattu row: AWBI files affidavit in SC

The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) on Monday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court seeking that the Tamil Nadu Government's law on bull-taming sport Jallikattu be made invalid.

Anjali Sharma, the lawyer for AWBI, told the apex court that she had filed her reply to the charges levelled by G.S. Mani, an intervener in the case.

The government has dubbed the plea filed by AWBI and the amendment a "fraud" on the Constitution and a violation of a 2014 Supreme Court judgment, which declared jallikattu as an "inherently cruel" event practiced on bulls.

The apex court had earlier on November 16 last year rejected the Tamil Nadu Government's plea seeking review of the 2014 judgement, which banned the use of bulls for jallikattu events in the state.

After hearing from various petitioners and respondents in the case, a division bench of the top court, headed by Justice Dipak Misra and also comprising Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, dismissed the state government's review petition.

The court had in its order said, "We are of the opinion that the review petition does not contain any merit and thus accordingly we dismiss it."

The state government had filed the review petition in the apex court in 2014, claiming that it was illegal and unconstitutional as the taming of bulls for such an event amounted to "cruelty".

The Tamil Nadu Assembly on January 23 unanimously passed the Jallikattu Bill revoking the ban on the bull taming sports.