Supreme Court notice to Centre, state on Kambala

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Centre and the Karnataka government on a PIL filed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), challenging the constitutionality, legality, validity and legitimacy of the law passed by the Karnataka government to allow Kambala to be conducted in the state.

A three-Judge Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud issued the notices on PeTA’s petition challenging the prevention of cruelty to animals (Karnataka Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, making Kambala legal. Kambala is a folk sport, held traditionally under the auspices of local landlords and households, in coastal Karnataka. The sport generally starts in November and lasts until March.

Senior counsel Siddharth Luthra brought to the notice of the court that the sport was to commence this month and pleaded for a stay of the operation of the ordinance. He said the President had returned the Bill passed by the state legislature. The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on November 13.  

In February, the Karnataka government had passed an amendment bill in the assembly to legalise Kambala. It came a month after Tamil Nadu passed a bill to allow Jallikattu. In November 2016, the Karnataka HC had banned the sport through an interim order. PeTA filed the petition seeking the ban. The ban had led to mass outrage forcing the state assembly to pass the bill.