On a day the Karnataka Assembly passed a bill to legalise traditional buffalo race Kambala, animal rights body PETA on Monday said allowing this "cruelty" to be afflicted on animals is "shameful" and leaves a "black mark" on India.
PETA said India has long enjoyed the admiration of nations for its cultural reverence for animals rights but today it moved "backward" when other countries are progressing by banning the use of animals in circuses, bullfights, and other "cruel" spectacles.
"Allowing this cruelty to animals is a shameful black mark on our nation," Poorva Joshipura, CEO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, said.
Bowing to the public pressure and in the backdrop of Tamil Nadu government allowing Jallikattu after huge protests, Karnataka Assembly on Monday passed a bill to legalise buffalo race Kambala and bullock cart race.
All parties backed the move in the Assembly.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, was amended in its application to Karnataka by the bill which was tabled after the clamour for Kambala grew.