CHENNAI: With Tamil Nadu seeking a Central ordinance for the conduct of Jallikattu this week, Union minister M. Venkiah Naidu on Tuesday said it should be seen whether any amendment in this regard stands the scrutiny of law.
“The Supreme Court, the highest court, has given a verdict (banning the sport). Now suggestions are coming that we must amend (laws), like we amended (after) the Shah Bano case. We have to see that even if we amend (laws) whether it stands the scrutiny of law,” the minister said.
The Supreme Court awarded Shah Bano, a Muslim woman who was divorced by her husband in 1978, maintenance like any other Indian woman. After the judgment led to a huge uproar among the Muslim clerics, the then Rajiv Gandhi government amended the law by passing Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 to set aside the verdict.
However, the minister said that though personally he has no objections to jallikattu being held as it is a tradition of the Tamils, the verdict of the Supreme Court should be respected.
“Jallikattu, according to me personally, as a minister I don’t know I should say or not, has been a traditional art and play in Tamil Nadu and nobody should have any objection. But when the highest court of the land has given a verdict, I as a minister, am not supposed to contradict the court’s stand,” Mr Venkaiah said.
