The Gauhati High Court on Thursday ordered all district administrations to ensure a total ban on Moh-juj or buffalo fights across Assam.
Hearing a petition filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), India, the Gauhati High Court issued the interim order today to ensure buffalo fights, viewed as an essential Bihu-time custom, are stopped across the state.
This comes after PETA India announced on Wednesday that they filed a lawsuit in the Gauhati High Court seeking to stop buffalo and bulbul bird fights, which were recently held in Assam after nine years.
Moreover, the Gauhati HC also directed the Assam government to file an action-taken report with the court in connection with the matter. The report will have to filed within February 6 (Tuesday), as mandated by the court.
The petition filed by PETA claimed that several central laws were broken while performing the ancient ritual. "As evidence, PETA India submitted investigations into these fights which reveal that terrified and severely injured buffaloes were forced to fight through beatings and that starved and intoxicated bulbuls were made to fight over food," the animal rights group said in a statement.
The bulbul bird fight and buffalo combat were held during the Bhogali Bihu celebrations on January 15 and 16. The two were stopped in Assam in 2015 after the Supreme Court prohibited Tamil Nadu's Jallikattu. In 2023, however, the Supreme Court upheld legislation governing the Jallikattu and buffalo races in Karnataka.
Following the 2023 verdict, the BJP-led Assam government developed new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to allow the buffalo and bulbul bird fight. On January 15, a bulbul bird fight was held in Hajo, Kamrup district, and a buffalo combat was held in Ahotguri, Nagaon district, on January 16, as part of the Bhogali Bihu celebrations, nine years later.
"Buffaloes and bulbuls are gentle animals who feel pain and terror and don't want to be forced into bloody fights in front of jeering crowds," said PETA India Advocacy Associate Tushar Kol.
