PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has ordered the Goa Police draw up an action plan to tackle the issue of illegal bull fights, which the NGO ‘People for Animals’ alleged was taking place despite there being a ban on the sport.
The People for Animals NGO, that is led by Adv Normal Alvares in a contempt petition filed before the Court had alleged “a large number of bullfights that are continuing to be organised on a regular basis despite the ban… at least eight such instances have come to light between January, 2021 to August, 2021.”
The NGO also alleged that “the organisers of these illegal fights have now been emboldened by a lack of action and have now started Facebook groups, Instagram profiles and have thus adopted social media as a means of publicising these fights.”
In response the State government contended that the Police authorities have taken timely action. “117 calls were received by the Police Control Room at Margao regarding illegal bullfights. Police Authorities swung into action on the basis of calls and out of 117, in 11 cases 4 bullfights were prevented and 7 have resulted in offences being registered at Police Stations in the South Goa district. In 106 cases, the respondents have stated that on verification of the location identified upon the telephonic complaints no bullfights were found to be organised. Thus, indicating that the information provided by those callers was incorrect,” the police said via an affidavit.
“From the number of cases registered and a number of persons arrested, we find that there is not a single conviction and that is one of the aspects which the petitioners are highlighting,” the High Court observed.
Upon the prodding of the High Court, the State Advocate General agreed that the NGO be allowed to make a presentation before the Director General of Police and the Member Secretary of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) with the DGP then ordered to, within four weeks come up with a plan for enforcing the ban.
“At our request, he (the Advocate General) agreed that the petitioners may be permitted to make an appropriate representation to the Director General of Police who will then grant them a personal hearing and consider their representation in the right spirit, positively and put in place an active mechanism which will attempt to prevent instances of such bull fights being organised,” the Court said.
Among the suggestions that the PFA will place before the police is a report of a workshop held in September 2021 which noted that the police need support by way of a team of bull catchers, consensus on the application of relevant provisions of IPC, mapping of all bulls for their identification on their rescue including by use of RFID tags, microchips. Help was also sought from the Department of Animal Husbandry for the assistance of police authorities for ear tagging the bulls that are likely to be used in such fights and identify and investigate the activities of the bull owners, how they contribute to the organising of the bullfights actively or otherwise.
The PFA agreed to prepare such a representation within a period of four weeks from today and present it to the DGP who the court asked to convene a meeting where the petitioners and the Member Secretary of the SPCA will meet with the DGP who will grant them audience and examine the plan.
“At that meeting, the DGP shall briefly assess the plan and thereafter devise such steps that he and his officers will deem fit and appropriate for the purpose of enforcing the ban in the light of the suggestions that the petitioners will make. Within four weeks of such meeting, the DGP shall provide the proposed action plan for effective implementation of the ban and proactive steps to prevent the organisation of such bull fights including by identifying the organisers and suggesting a mechanism whereby his officers suitably identified for that purposes are granted necessary authority and powers and directed to prevent and in cases of undetected fights take appropriate action in accordance with the law,” the Court said.
The Court also directed the police to “take to a logical conclusion” a complaint filed by the People for Animals before the the Collector and the DGP which has brought to the attention that the bullfights are scheduled to take place at Benaulim and proposedly to be held on 17/04/2022 (Easter Sunday).
“The photographs annexed show the pictorial representation of the bulls that are likely to be involved in the fight on Easter. Many of these fights are reportedly conducted in fields within the jurisdiction of the concerned police station and it is difficult to believe the police authorities have no means of identifying those responsible. Needless to mention, the respondents shall apprise the DGP who shall take this complaint into account and investigate the complaint and take it to its logical conclusion,” the High Court said.
