Interim stay on rekla races using horses, bullocks till February 17

A division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice R Hemalatha granted the interim order on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which alleged that during festival season such as Pongal etc, rekla races, without any authority or license whatsoever and under the guise of conducting rekla races, public roads are being used and thereby preventing traffic, which in turn leads to hardship to the road users as well as the locals.

The petitioner’s counsel also pointed out that before conducting rekla races, no health check-ups of the animals participating in the races are being conducted like in ‘Jallikattu’ and in the event of any mishap, the State government was mulcted with responsibilities to take care of law and order problem and to pay compensation.

The bench on hearing the arguments and on perusing the materials placed before it, said, “This Court, is of the view that a prima facie case has been made out for grant of interim order since conducting rekla races, using horses and bullocks, involves torture to animals.”

Also holding that it appears that no precautionary measures have also been put in place and that apart, public roads are used for conducting such races, the bench said, “On those days, the road users as well as public would definitely be put to grave hardship and inconvenience. That apart, if any accidents or mishap happens, no mechanism is put in place to address the said issue and balance of convenience as on date lies in favour of the petitioner.”

“Hence, there shall be an order of ad-interim injunction restraining the authorities from granting any license/permission to conduct such events unless appropriate supervisory mechanism, be put in place,” the bench added.