MANDYA: A 42-year-old man was killed and a boy is said to be critical after a bullock cart allegedly rammed into spectators here during a bullock cart race, police said.
“A man died during a bullock cart race. The injured boy is being treated at Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS). His condition is said to be critical, police said. The deceased has been identified as Nagaraju, a resident of Keelara village, Police said.
During the initial probe, police learned that a bullock cart tyre ran over the man who was among the spectators watching the competition. The fatal accident happened at Chikkamandya near Mandya, where an inter-state level pair bullock cart race was going on for two days. The area falls under Mandya Central police station limits.
In December last year, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court including Justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar, had reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra governments’ laws allowing the bull-taming sport ‘Jallikattu’ and bullock cart races.
The Tamil Nadu government in a previous hearing had told the apex court that sporting events could also be cultural events and there is no cruelty on the bulls in ‘Jallikattu’. “This is an incorrect notion that an activity, which is in the nature of a sport or entertainment or amusement, cannot have a cultural value”, the counsel appearing for the state had said.
Earlier, the apex court had asked the Tamil Nadu government whether an animal can be used in bull-taming sports like ‘Jallikattu’ for the entertainment of humans and how the sport is necessary for preserving the native breed of bulls.(ANI)