Bullock cart racing on despite ban, curbs in Pune

PUNE: Last week, the Pune rural police moved in to stop an illegal bullock cart race, involving a crowd of more than 200 people, at a village in Shirur taluka and registered a case against its organizers. The race, however, was not the only instance of its kind in the recent past.
The Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling that bans bullock cart races and the Covid-19 restrictions since March last year are no deterrents for people in the villages of Ambegaon, Shirur, Junnar and Khed talukas in Pune district. they hold clandestine gatherings and organize bullock cart races.

Pune rural superintendent of police Abhinav Deshmukh said 22 organisers have so far been held this year. “Similar arrests were made during the previous two years and, in some cases, notices were issued to the organisers,” he said.
Deshmukh said, “Earlier, people from the entire village would gather for the bullock cart race featuring multiple participants and multiple races, besides spectators from villages around the hosts. Now, bullock cart races are organised surreptitiously with barely 200 to 250 people and five to six participants. The villagers do not even call people from neighbouring villages. Our police teams rely on local intelligence and are thwarting these races. All the 15 cases this year were registered on the spot.”
Manilal Valliyate, a veterinarian and CEO of the Indian branch of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said, “We have been receiving numerous complaints about illegal bullock cart races scheduled to take place in different parts of the state and we were successful in working with the district police to stop many cruel spectacles from going ahead.”
The Supreme Court in its 2014 judgment has made clear that bullock cart races are illegal and there’s no place in a civilised society for beating bulls with sticks, administering electric shocks with a live wire, chewing their tails, and breaking their tail bones to force them to run, he said. ‘Bullocks already have a hard life without the additional torment of being forced to race,” he added.
Valliyate said PETA India in September 2017 filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking its direction to strike down the state law that aim to legalise bullock cart races and the plea will be heard by a constitutional bench.
Farmers and political leaders, like Amol Kolhe, the Nationalist Congress Party’s MP from Shirur Lok Sabha seat, have been consistently speaking in favour of reviving bullock cart races.
“I support bullock cart races, but I am against ill-treatment of the animals. I have repeatedly requested animal right activists and other officials to visit farmers and stay with them to observe how the bulls are loved by the farmers,” Kolhe told TOI on Sunday.
He said he respected the feelings of animal right activists but it was equally important to develop an economic model of bullock cart races which help farmers to prosper.
“Khilar is a beautiful breed but since the races are banned, the male population of this cattle has seen a sharp decline, which has been reported in the cattle census. I am waiting for the outcome of my discussion on the issue with different authorities. We hope that the ban will be lifted soon. Till then, I have appealed to the farmers not to conduct such races,” he added