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A total of 20 people have been booked for organising and participating in an illegal bull race, locally known as "maramadi", in the Pallikkal area of Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram Rural district, police said on Wednesday, September 3. The action followed a complaint lodged by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India.
A case has been registered at Pallikkal police station for the offences of negligent conduct with respect to animal, as well as for treating animal cruelly.
The FIR accuses 20 individuals of unlawfully conducting a race using 19 pairs of bulls, overexerting them, and subjecting them to abuse. According to police, the organisers had been warned in advance not to go ahead with the event after posters promoting the race surfaced on WhatsApp groups. However, videos later confirmed that the race was held despite the warning.
“The Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court have already made it clear that bull races are illegal and inherently cruel,” said PETA India Emergency Response Coordinator Divya Chavan. “We commend the Thiruvananthapuram rural police for promptly registering the FIR and sending a clear message that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated.”
Animal welfare groups point out that bulls used in such races are often forced to run through cruel practices, including yanking their nose ropes, whipping them, twisting their tails, and even breaking tailbones to make them run faster.
This is not the first such case in Kerala. On September 8, 2024, Alathur police in Palakkad registered a suo motu FIR against organisers of another bullock cart race following a complaint by PETA India. Earlier, in May 2022, a Palakkad court convicted several accused for conducting a similar illegal race in Malampuzha in 2021.
The Kerala High Court, in a 2015 order, reaffirmed that it is bound by the 2014 Supreme Court judgment upholding the Union government’s ban on bull races, noting that bulls are not anatomically suited to such events.