Six Men Booked for Illegal Bullock Cart Racing in Palakkad After PETA India Complaint

Following a report by The Times of India about the Kalappoottu bull race that took place at Thonipadam in Palakkad’s Alathur, PETA India collaborated with Palakkad police officials to get a first information report (FIR) registered against those accused of organising and participating in the illegal event.

The FIR was registered suo moto on Saturday by Alathur Police Station, reportedly against three members of the bull race committee, along with one known and two unidentified persons, for using two pairs of bulls in an illegal race. The FIR states that the accused conducted the bull race unlawfully, overexerted the bulls by forcing them to race, and subjected them to abuse, endangering both the animals and the spectators. The FIR was registered under sections 125 and 291 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which address negligent conduct regarding animals and acts that endanger the life or personal safety of others, as well as sections 3 and 11(1)(a) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, which criminalises the whipping, beating, and inflicting of unnecessary pain and suffering on animals.

Bulls used for work already have a hard life without the additional torment of being forced to race. During races, terrified bulls run in an effort to escape pain. They’re commonly yanked by their nose ropes to the starting line and hit with bare hands and weapons like nail-studded sticks, and their tailbones are often broken at the joint in an attempt to force them to run faster.

In a similar incident on 8 December 2021, following a complaint from PETA India, the Malampuzha Police Station registered a suo moto FIR against the accused. Subsequently, on 19 May 2022, the Hon’ble Court of Judicial First Class Magistrate III, Palakkad, in CC No 239/2022, delivered a judgement convicting all the accused under sections 289 and 336 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and sections 3 and 11(1)(a) of the PCA Act, 1960.

On 8 September 2015, the High Court of Kerala passed an order stating that it is bound by the observations and views of the 2014 Supreme Court judgement upholding the ban imposed by the central government’s notification dated 7 July 2011. The court pointed out that the Supreme Court has categorically stated that bulls are not anatomically suited to racing.