The Supreme Court has imposed a ban on Jallikattu currently, citing animal welfare issues.
Nearly 200 people have been detained by the police in Tamil Nadu's Madurai district for protesting the Supreme Court ban on Jallikattu and demanding that the bull taming festival be held. The protest, that lasted overnight, happened in a small town called Alanganallur.
The Superintendent of Police in Madurai said, "around 200 people have been taken into preventive custody. They had assembled unlawfully, despite several warnings by the police. They will be released soon."
Jallikattu, or bull taming, which is also referred to as Eruthazhuvuthal locally, is practiced in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations.
The Supreme Court has imposed a ban on the practice currently, citing animal welfare issues. Jallikattu has remained banned for the last three years.
Animal rights activists had appealed against the centuries-old tradition at the Supreme Court citing atrocities to the bulls as a reason. Advocate and Animal Rights Activist, Rudra Krishna says, "you basically see bulls having tails bitten, being stabbed with sickles, agitated, stuff rubbed into their eyes with twenty people jumping on him."
Recently, a war of words had broken out between DMK Working President MK Stalin and animal rights non-profit PETA over the Jallikattu issue, with the leader calling the animal rights NGO as "anti-national" and the group calling the criticism "cheap and ineffective."
"Centre should immediately ban the international NGO PETA which is against our culture and is anti-national," he said. He also favoured replacing Animal Welfare Board of India with a different body with more Tamil representation in it. Hitting back, PETA said Stalin's criticism was "cheap and ineffective" and that supporting "cruelty" is "un-Indian."