Overview
- The court issued an interim order directing the Home and Political Department to stop all buffalo fights and to file cases against organisers until further orders.
- PETA India’s petition included photos and videos showing buffaloes bleeding with deep wounds as handlers beat them with sticks and yanked them by nose ropes.
- The judge said such events violate the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and breach the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling that bars animal spectacles involving inherent cruelty.
- In December 2024, the same court struck down a state SOP that had allowed buffalo and bulbul bird fights, yet events were still held in January across Assam.
- Buffalo fights, known locally as Moh juj and staged during the Magh Bihu harvest festival, now face explicit court-ordered enforcement that could bring arrests and fines for organisers.