BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Kambala Samithi on Wednesday informed the Karnataka High Court that it has not planned to organise ‘Kambala’ in Bengaluru on October 26 as stated by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) India and has not even applied for permission from authorities for the event.
Advocate General K Shashikiran Shetty submitted that the Samithi held Kambala last year in accordance with law and the government will file its response to the PeTA petition on whether Kambala amounts to cruelty to animals. He requested the court for a time.
Recording the submissions of the Samithi counsel and AG, the division bench of Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice KV Aravind adjourned the hearing to November 5.
PeTA-India moved the high court seeking directions to restrain the state government from issuing permission to Bengaluru Kambala. The court on Tuesday had asked the AG to submit the state government’s response on Wednesday.
The AG submitted that the petitioner has based its information on inaccurate news reports.
Arguing for PeTA, senior advocate Dhyan Chinnappa said Kambala is permitted to be conducted only in two districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada. It amounts to cruelty if it is conducted in any other district since the buffaloes have to be brought from Dakshina Kannada in trucks, he added.
The petitioner sought directions to the state to enforce the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Second Karnataka Amendment) Act, 2017 and the observations made by the Supreme Court in the case of the Animal Welfare Board of India and others.