Guwahati, April 21: In a just released Order, the Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government, particularly the Home & Political Department, to ensure that no buffalo fights (Moh juj) take place in the state and to initiate appropriate penal action against any organizers of such events, until further orders.
The interim order was passed following the writ petition filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India), citing flagrantly held illegal buffalo fights conducted in various districts of Assam in January.
The Court observed that buffalo fights in Assam cannot be permitted under the statutory provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and any subsequent organization of these events would be in violation of binding judicial precedents.
PETA India had filed disturbing new evidence of extreme cruelty to buffaloes from this year before the Gauhati High Court. The documentation, available in photo and video form, shows blood-soaked buffaloes with gaping open wounds being nearly constantly beaten with thick sticks during the events and yanked by nose ropes to be forced to fight, resulting in severe injuries. The documentation also shows one man being pummeled by a fleeing buffalo.
PETA India prayed for accountability and urgent action against the unlawful events that took place and immediate intervention to prevent any future events from being held in open defiance of the Gauhati High Court’s orders and the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in Animal Welfare Board of India v. A. Nagaraja.
In December 2024, acting on petitions filed by PETA India, the Gauhati High Court quashed the Assam government’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) dated 27 December 2023, which had allowed buffalo and bulbul bird fights during a certain time of the year (in January).
The Gauhati High Court further held the SOP to be in violation of the judgment dated 7 May 2014 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Animal Welfare Board of India vs. A. Nagaraja, which prohibits animal spectacles involving inherent cruelty. Despite these clear and binding judicial directions, illegal buffalo fights were organised in Assam earlier this year—under the very nose of the authorities.
“We are grateful to the Gauhati High Court for setting the clear expectation that buffaloes must be protected from abuse. Beating terrified animals bloody for public spectacle has no place in a modern society,” says Vikram Chandravanshi, Senior Policy and Legal Advisor, PETA India.
PETA India reiterates that buffaloes are sentient, gentle animals who experience pain and fear and who do not naturally want to run or fight. PETA India also notes that such fights are inherently cruel, as the very purpose of them is to cause immeasurable pain and suffering to the animals forced to participate, and contradict the tenets of ahimsa (non-violence) and compassion, which are integral to Indian culture and tradition.
