Alanganallur: HC injunction on award of best bull tamer prize

Madurai: The Madras high court on Friday granted interim injunction restraining the authorities from awarding first prize for the best bull tamer who participated in the Alanganallur jallikattu event in Madurai district.
Justice G R Swaminathan was hearing a petition filed by R Karuppanan, a resident of Arittapatti village in Madurai district.
The petitioner stated that for the past 15 years he has been taking part in the jallikattu event, which is a cultural sport organised in Madurai district.He stated that he also took part in the Alanganallur jallikattu which was organised this year on January 16.
In each round, 75 tamers would be permitted in the arena and those who tame more bulls would be permitted to continue to the next round. He stated that he was allotted jersey number 244 and entered the arena in the fourth round. He stated that he continued to stay in the arena till the last round and had tamed 11 bulls.
When the prizes were announced, the first place was given to Kannan from Virattipathu who was given jersey number 33 and had tamed 12 bulls. The second place was given to him. He stated that he came to know that originally, jersey number 33 was allotted to a tamer named Harikrishnan who left the arena after sustaining injuries in the first round.
Karuppanan stated that Kannan was involved in impersonation as he had participated in the event by taking the jersey which was allotted to Harikrishnan. Due to this illegal act of Kannan, he was deprived of the first place.
On coming to know about the impersonation, he submitted a representation to the authorities seeking to probe the issue and to declare him as the winner of the first place. Though the revenue divisional officer who conducted an inquiry about this incident also confirmed the impersonation, no steps were taken in this regard.
He further stated that the authorities are planning to distribute the first prize to Kannan during a function which is to be organised on January 30. Hence, Karuppanan moved the HC Madurai bench seeking to award him the first place for the best tamer in Alanganallur jallikattu event. The petitioner also sought for an interim injunction from distributing first prize for the event till the disposal of the petition.
It may be recalled that chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and deputy CM O Panneerselvam had sponsored a ‘Renault Kwid’ car each for the best bull and best bull tamer taking part in the Alanganallur jallikattu.