
MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday sought a counter affidavit from the state government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking directions to stop imposing jallikattu conditions for manjuvirattu events in the state, and conduct the latter in its true form.
The litigant, S Muruganantham of Sivaganga, stated in his petition that the government has failed to understand the differences between jallikattu and manjuvirattu. While jallikattu requires bulls to be confined in enclosures and released one at a time to a select group of people who have to try and hang on to the bull without falling, manjuvirattu involves the release of about 5-10 bulls simultaneously in open grounds.
In jallikattu, the tamers are not allowed to touch the bulls beyond the distance of 100 metres, but in manjuvirattu, the tamers are allowed to touch the bulls only after 100 metres from the release point, he added.
Despite several such differences, the government has fixed the same standard operating procedures for both events by mandating creation of arena-like structures, bull examination and collection points, wearing uniforms, etc for manjuvirattu events as well, Muruganantham added. "The essence and foundation of manjuvirattu will be destroyed and people will be conducting only jallikattu by the said conditions," he added and sought the above direction.
A bench of Justices MS Ramesh and AD Maria Clete issued notice to the authorities concerned and adjourned the case for filing of counter affidavit.