Not prudent for courts to confer fundamental right to life under Article 21 on bulls: Supreme Court in Jallikattu verdict

Court will not venture into into judicial adventurism to bring bulls within the ambit of Article 21 of the Constitution which guarantees right to life, the Supreme Court said in its verdict allowing bull taming sport Jallikattu. [Animal Welfare Board of India and ors vs Union of India and ors]..A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court of Justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar upheld the validity of amendments made by Tamil Nadu to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA Act) thereby paving the way for Jallikattu to be conducted in the State. "While the protection under Article 21 has been conferred on person as opposed to a citizen, which is the case in Article 19 of the Constitution, we do not think it will be prudent for us to venture into a judicial adventurism to bring bulls within the said protected mechanism," the Court said in its judgment..In this regard, the Court further elaborated that it has its doubt as to whether "detaining a stray bull from the street against its wish could give rise to the constitutional writ of habeas corpus or not.".The Court further said that Article 14 of the Constitution cannot be invoked by any animal and even an animal welfare law has to be tested at the instance of a human being espousing the cause of animals."While we can test the provisions of an animal welfare legislation, that would be at the instance of a human being or a juridical person who may espouse the cause of animal welfare," said the judgment. Pertinently, the bench also said that courts cannot undertake the exercise of balancing between the pain and suffering caused to animals and how much pain they can be subject to.The Court was responding to the argument that Jallikattu causes unnecessary pain and suffering to bulls merely for entertainment purpose and hence, the amendments in law should be held to be unreasonable and arbitrary. The Court chose to respond to this by stating,"For instance, while other means of carriage of goods are available, why should bulls be permitted to undertake such activities - which are apparently involuntary and subject these sentient bovine species to pain and suffering? Horse racing is allowed under Performing Animals (Registration) Rules, 2001. Horse is also a sentient animal. But the fact remains that by making them perform in races, some element of pain and suffering must be caused to horses. Here, the focus shifts from causing pain and suffering to the degree of pain and suffering to which a sentient animal is subjected to while being compelled to undertake certain activities for the benefit of human beings."Similarly, proponents of vegetarianism may argue that slaughtering animals is not necessary as human beings can survive without animal protein, the Court added."In our opinion, we should not take up this balancing exercise which has societal impact in discharge of our judicial duties. This kind of exercise ought to be left for the legislature to decide upon," the bench underlined. .The Court also upheld laws allowing Kambala and bull cart racing in Karnataka and Maharashtra.The Court further said that the laws do not violate Articles 51A(g) and 51A(h), and thus do not infringe Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India."All three amendment acts are valid legislations and we direct that all laws are strictly implemented and the DM and competent authorities shall be responsible for strict implementation of the amended law," the Court said..The Supreme Court had in May 2014 held that Jallikattu, popular in Tamil Nadu, was violative of the rights of the animals involved as well as the Prevention of Cruelty (PCA) Act.Specifically with regard to the cultural aspect of the sport, the apex court had held that Jallikattu, as it is practiced today, has never been the culture or tradition of Tamil Nadu. Therefore, the Tamil Nadu Jallikattu Regulation Act of 2009 (TNJR Act), which regulated the practice, was struck down.In January 2016, the Central government issued a new notification carving out an exception for Jallikkattu and bullock cart races from the scope of the PCA Act. That notification came to be challenged in the Supreme Court.Later, The State government enacted the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of 2017.These, in effect, paved way for bull-taming sports like Jallikatu to take place.This also came to be assailed before the top court leading to the present verdict. Read more here. .[Read Judgment]