Maneka forces bull fight out of autumn festival list

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The Indian Express, Saturday, 05 November, 2006

Link: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_frame.php

 

Maneka forces bull fight out of autumn festival list

Tilak Rai

 

SHILLONG, NOVEMBER 4: Bull fight has been struck off the list of

events at the autumn festival beginning in Shillong tomorrow,

apparently under pressure from animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi.

 

The former Union Minister had threatened to drag former Meghalaya

Home Minister R G Lyngdoh to court if the festival, being organised

by the Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum (MTDF), featured bull

fights, sources said. Lyngdoh is chairman of MTDF.

 

According to the sources, Gandhi had called up Lyngdoh and asked him

to cancel the bull fight that was supposed to be part of the

festival.

 

She was believed to have told him that if it were held, MTDF would

be dragged to court. Lyngdoh, however, denied having received any

such threat.

 

But the removal of bull fight from the event list suggests there was

some kind of pressure on the MTDF. Lyngdoh told The Indian Express

that the bull fight was taken off the list not because of any

threat, but due to some ``internal problems''.

 

He said bull fight has been a traditional game in Meghalaya and the

MTDF had the necessary permission from the Khasi Hills Autonomous

District Council (KHADC) to hold the event.

 

Even the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had written

to Lyngdoh expressing distress over bull fights in the autumn

festival. PETA chief functionary Anuradha Sawhney said that such

fights were in contravention to Section 11 (1) (m) (ii) and Section

11 (1) (n) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.

She had asked MTDF to reconsider its decision to stage bull fights.

 

In 1996, bull fight, one of the main tourist attractions in Goa, was

banned in that state. But the Goa government had appealed to the

Supreme Court to exempt it from the PCA Act stating it was

a ``traditional sport''.

 

An MTDF member said that the forum was contemplating moving court,

as Goa had done, to exempt bull fight from the PCA Act.

 

In Meghalaya, they are held regularly in villages of East and West

Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Ri-Bhoi districts.

 

They are held every week in some villages.