By IANS
Kuala Lumpur : About 300 Malaysian Tamils observed a daylong fast here to protest the Indian Supreme Court’s ban on Madurai’s traditional sport Jallikattu, a bull taming sport which is considered part of the annual Pongal celebration.
The Pongal or harvest is a grand festival and the bull-run is one of the highlights of the three-day festival, Malaysia Nanban newspaper reported.
Jallikattu is a 400-year-old tradition in Tamil Nadu, mainly in the districts of Madurai, Theni, Sivaganga and Salem.
In Jallikattu, the bull is not killed and the ‘matadors’ are not supposed to use any weapon. Young men try to catch a bull as it races across a distance of half a kilometre by hanging onto its neck, horns or hump.
However, favouring animal rights groups who have been protesting this sport, the Supreme Curt has upheld a lower court ban on jallikattu.
In its Jan 12 verdict, the Supreme Court said the bullfight in which the animals are tortured and made to run amok represented “severe cruelty”.
Keeping in view of the public anger over the ban, the Tamil Nadu government Sunday filed a review petition in the Supreme Court.