Indian court bans traditional bull cart racing

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Foreign Saturday 20, January 2001

 

Indian court bans traditional bull cart racing

 

CHANDIGARH, India, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A court in the northern Indian state

of Punjab has banned the traditional sport of bull cart racing on

complaints the beasts are cruelly treated, an animal rights group said on

Thursday.

 

" We managed to get a court order against the event, " Payal Sodi, head of

People for Animals (PFA) in the state capital of Chandigarh said.

Sodi said objects were sometimes inserted into the anus of beasts to make

them run faster.

 

PFA, headed by Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Maneka Gandhi,

had long sought a ban on the most popular sport of the " rural Olympics " . The

rural Olympics are held every year at the northeastern town of Kila Raipur

in Ludhiana district of Punjab.

 

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner S.K. Sandhu also accused race participants of

drugging and flogging bulls.

 

Event organiser Sukhbir Grewal denied the charge of cruelty and said his

organisation would defy the ban and hold the racing event from January 21.

" Instead of banning the sport, the organisers and the government could have

posted referees to ensure no animal is treated cruelly, " he said.

 

PFA said it would seek to prevent the rural Olympics from taking place if

the organisers tried to defy the ban. But the group did not say how.