PETA India moves HC over illegal buffalo fights during Bihu

Guwahati: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has moved the Gauhati high court alleging cruelty in illegal buffalo fights held across parts of Assam during the Magh Bihu in January, seeking urgent judicial intervention and accountability.PETA India sought accountability and urgent action against the unlawful events that took place and immediate intervention to prevent any future events from being held in open defiance of the HC orders and the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in “Animal Welfare Board of India versus A Nagaraja.”In a press statement, PETA India said its documentation from illegal events in Morigaon and Nagaon this year shows blood-soaked buffaloes with gaping open wounds being nearly constantly beaten with thick sticks during the events and yanked by nose ropes to be forced to fight, resulting in severe injuries.

The documentation also shows one man being pummelled by a fleeing buffalo.In Dec 2024, acting on petitions filed by PETA India, the HC quashed the Assam govt’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued on Dec 27, 2023, which had allowed buffalo and bulbul bird fights during a certain time of the year. The Gauhati High Court further held the SOP to be in violation of the judgment May 7, 2014 passed by the “Supreme Court in Animal Welfare Board of India Versus A Nagaraja”, which prohibits animal spectacles involving inherent cruelty.

“Despite these clear and binding judicial directions, illegal buffalo fights were organised in Assam earlier this year, under the very nose of the authorities. We had submitted multiple representations to the concerned district and police authorities in advance, warning that these events would amount to blatant violations of statutory duties and contempt of court, and filed numerous formal complaints against the organisers, pursuant to which only two FIRs were registered in Sivasagar and Nagaon under various charges of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS),” PETA India stated.However, PETA India said FIRs were not registered for complaints regarding illegal fight events that took place in Ahatguri, Gormori Gaon, Mikirbheta, Roha, Majrahola Dal Pathar, and Dibrugarh.