The Guwahati High Court, responding to an application for interim relief filed by PETA India against the Assam Government’s authorization of traditional buffalo fights, has directed the concerned authorities to immediately halt any further buffalo fights in the state. The animal welfare organization’s petitions highlight numerous violations of central laws during the conduct of these events, and as part of their evidence, PETA India submitted investigations into the fights, revealing instances of terrified and severely injured buffaloes being coerced into fighting.
The Assam government, in celebration of Magh Bihu last month, revived the age-old tradition of buffalo and bulbul (songbird) fights in the state, following a nine-year hiatus imposed by a previous ban by the Guwahati High Court. The court had responded to pleas asserting that the practice was cruel to both birds and animals.
In response to the Assam government’s decision to permit buffalo fights, PETA India filed a petition with the Gauhati High Court, advocating for the prohibition of such events once again.
An investigation into a buffalo fight held in Ahatguri in the Morigaon district of Assam on January 16 unveiled disturbing details. Owners instigated buffaloes to fight by slapping, pushing, and shoving them, jabbing and striking them with wooden sticks, and pulling them by their nose-ropes to force them into proximity. As the fights ensued, owners and handlers further distressed the buffaloes by jabbing them with sticks and striking them with bare hands. The buffaloes engaged in combat, sustaining bloody wounds to their necks, ears, faces, and foreheads, with many exhibiting injuries all over their bodies. The brutal confrontations continued until one of the two buffaloes managed to break away and flee.