MANGALURU: Even while the High Court of Karnataka is waiting for the Supreme Court hearing on the Kambala and Jellikattu slush field racing activities, officials are keeping their fingers crossed for the coming Kambala events to be held on the coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada. The Supreme Court had stayed the recommendations made by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on January 7 in the Gazette of India notification, permitting events such as jallikattu and bull races, despite a Supreme Court judgment that categorically held that such events cannot be allowed.
The People for Ethical Treatment to Animals (PETA) had appealed to the Supreme Court against the notification, soon after the gazzette notification. “The Supreme Court order had vindicated our stand on cruelty to bovine animals in the name of religious and folk sports in the country. This order was sufficient for banning all kinds of folk sport using bovine animals in the country, including Kambala,” said a PETA activist.
Ashok Rai, one of the organisers of Kambla in Dakshina Kannada, said, “The formation of an annual Kambala calendar usually begins in the last week of September, but this time no such effort has been made. We are hoping that the court will hear the case soon enough, to facilitate a normal Kambala year. The owners of buffaloes are preparing them for the race with this hope.”
It is not just Kambala, but also the organisers of Jallikattu, and Kichchu Hachhuvudu in Bengaluru, and cart races in Tamil Nadu, who have been under the scanner of the Apex Court. Kambala Academy founder Gunapal Kadamba told Express that the case challenged by PETA has been posted to November 14 by the Supreme Court.
A Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) activist told ‘Express’ that there is a blanket ban on the sport, and other religious practices which use bovine animals, as per the Supreme Court orders. “This means kambala held in Coastal Karnataka and ‘kichchu hachhuvudu’ held on Sankranti in Rural Bengaluru and other central Karnataka districts are banned. The Supreme Court order is clear on not to use any bovine animals in sport,” he said.
Officials of the Animal Welfare Board told ‘Express’ that at this juncture there cannot be any indication on what will be the future of Kambala, Jallikattu and other sports which use animals.