Plea in HC challenges Maharashtra government decision to allow bullock cart racing

Mumbai: A petition has been filed against the state government’s recent decision of allowing bullock cart racing in Maharashtra. Petitioner Ajay Marathe has said that bullock cart racing is cruel and should be stopped. A bullock is mainly used for farming and should not be used for racing, Marathe has said.

The division bench of chief justice Manjulla Chellur and justice N. M. Jamadar kept the matter for hearing on August 16. Marathe told The Asian Age, “A few years ago, the Bombay HC had passed an order banning bullock cart racing which the state did not challenge in the Supreme Court. In another matter observed by the SC, it said that bullock cart racing is not in Maharashtra’s culture and such races always involve various forms of cruelty to animals.”

The state government gave the green signal to bullock cart racing on August 4. The news was received with joy in different parts of rural Maharashtra, where the sport is organised regularly. After facing pressure from farmers’ groups as well as various political parties, the Devendra Fadnavis government amended the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, with effect from July 31 this year to allow the traditional sport of bullock cart racing.

The state has inserted a number of conditions, including one which states that bullock cart racing should be held only with the permission of the district collector. The collector’s office will  verify whether the animal has been tortured in any way.

Violation of the rule will be punished with fines of `5 lakh and imprisonment of up to three years.