Chennai: Marking a great victory for the massive protests of students and youth to preserve Tamil culture, Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a Bill to replace the Ordinance to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, which will allow the conduct of jallikattu, a traditional sport of Tamils, which was banned by the Supreme Court in 2014.
The Bill, which was introduced by Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam in the evening, was passed after an hour’s discussion in which the Opposition slammed the state government for not holding talks with the protesters to explain about the law and clear their apprehensions.
The Bill was aimed to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 to preserve the cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu and to ensure the survival and wellbeing of the native breed of animals.
40 anti-socials rounded up for the violence
As many as 40 persons who allegedly indulged in violence were arrested by the city police from across the city on Monday.
Talking to media, the City Police Commissioner, S. George said that there were anti-social elements who got into the protest crowd. “Based on it we decided to disperse the crowd,” he added.
On Monday morning, police asked the protesters to withdraw their protest and gave them time to disperse.
He also said that Deputy Commissioner of police Mylapore V Balakrishnan had held talks with the students asking them to withdraw and around 4,500 supporters returned to their houses. It was only others who were at the beach were trying to create problems.
