No Kambala in Bengaluru until PETA India’s objections are heard, says HC

Bengaluru: A petition has been filed by PETA India seeking a prohibition on conducting buffalo bull races in Bengaluru and other areas. The Karnataka government and the Dakshin Kannada Samithi undertook that the event publicly reported to be conducted in Bengaluru on 26 October 2024 would not take place. The High Court of Karnataka Bench consisting of the Chief Justice and Justice KV Aravind ordered the State of Karnataka to intimate PETA India in advance if requests for permits are received for any other Kambala event in the city, so that PETA India’s objections may be heard by the court before any such permission is granted.

PETA India’s plea for an urgent consideration of the matter was prompted by media reports on Kambala events planned between October 26 to April 19, 2025 in various locations across Karnataka, including non-coastal areas such as Bengaluru and Shivamogga where these events were not traditionally held. The legality of conducting a Kambala event in Bengaluru and other places where it is not traditionally held, will be further considered by the Court on 5 November.

To stop other Kambala events, PETA India released its latest hard-hitting investigative footage of Kambala cruelty. The disturbing footage shows buffalo bulls being hit, weapon use, and buffaloes crashing and collapsing at the previous Kambala event held in Bengaluru and other recent Kambala events.

“Today’s proceedings have prevented buffalo bulls long and arduous transport, beatings, and other cruelty inherent in forcing buffaloes to race in Bengaluru for now. Karnataka’s reputation is one of modernity, innovation, and tech and not archaic animal abuse,” says PETA India’s Lead Legal Counsel Arunima Kedia. “We urge citizens to refuse to patronize events where animals are bullied for entertainment.”

As prey animals, buffaloes are inherently nervous, so men who use them for races deliberately incite them to run by bullying them—causing them pain, panic, and fear. Investigations conducted by PETA India into the previous event held in Bengaluru on 25–26 November 2023 revealed the same kind of severe abuse of these animals as has been documented at other events: buffaloes were tethered without food or water, beaten with sticks, and forcibly restrained with painful nose ropes. They were shouted at, slapped, and roughly handled at the starting point, often showing signs of fear and distress.

Unique to Bengaluru, the exhausted buffaloes were forced to race on a longer 155-meter-track, leading to severe physiological stress, as evidenced by heavy salivation, frothing at the mouth, and laboured breathing. These findings were documented in a report shared with the state government in January 2024.

In 2014, the Supreme Court passed a detailed and well-reasoned judgment in Animal Welfare Board of India vs A Nagaraja and Ors that holding kambala and other bull performances would violate the rights guaranteed to animals under the Constitution of India and The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

However, after this judgment was passed, beginning in 2017, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra amended animal protection law for their states to allow jallikattu, kambala, and bullock cart races, respectively. On 18 May 2023, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court also enabled these events to continue in these states.

Most recently, the Supreme Court agreed to consider an e-mail petition filed by PETA India and other animal rights entities requesting that petitions from these groups and those of others seeking a reversal of the 18 May 2023 judgment be urgently reviewed.