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Supreme Court upholds Tamil Nadu's jallikattu law

· Delhi

Supreme Court upholds Tamil Nadu's jallikattu law
Sundaram Perumal, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

A five-judge Constitution Bench upheld the Tamil Nadu law that allowed jallikattu to be held after the 2017 protests.

After the 2017 protests at Marina Beach, Tamil Nadu amended the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act as applied in the state to permit jallikattu. Animal rights groups challenged the law, and in February 2018 the Supreme Court referred the petitions to a Constitution Bench. On 18 May 2023 the five-judge bench dismissed the challenges and upheld the validity of the Tamil Nadu law. The verdict settled the legal status of the bull-taming sport, which is held during the Pongal season.

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