Mahajan urges AP Home minister to stop cock fights

BJP MP Poonam Mahajan today wrote to Andhra Pradesh Home minister N Chinarajappa, urging him to stop the cockfighting events illegally conducted in the state, despite the high court's prohibitory orders.
On December 26, the Hyderabad High Court had upheld the ban on cock-fights and directed the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments to ensure that no cockfights take place during the Sankranti festival.
The high court had passed the orders on petitions filed by the Animal Welfare Board of India, Humane Society International/India, People for Animals and other organisations.
"This was a huge step forward for animal rights. Cock fights are a blood sport and a front for illegal betting, child labour and illicit liquor. Cocks are pitted against one another, provoked and have knives tied to their feet so they cause extreme harm and even death," Mahajan, who was recently appointed as the chief of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of BJP, said in her letter.

She said that despite the HC orders, cock fights are taking place all over the state and cock fighting rings are being prepared, including in a municipal ground in Ramalingeshwar Nagar in Vijayawada.
"Preparations are going on in Rajahmundry, Anantpur, Amalapuram, Eluru, Vijayawada, Kothagudem. Animal welfare advocates are on the ground approaching the District Collectors, but it is falling on deaf ears. This is a retrograde and deplorable practice. It harms animals and is illegal," she stated.