An animal rights activist has lodged a complaint with Kashimira police station after a video of bullock carts racing on the Mira-Bhayander Road went viral on social media. The 28-second long video was shot on December 25.
"I was shocked on watching the video as the race was being carried out on the busy Mira-Bhayander road at around 4.30 pm. It was fortunate that an animal lover who saw this happening decided to shoot the video otherwise there would have been no proof. What is even more appalling is the fact that the police had no information about it," said Shakuntala Majumdar, President of Thane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Animals (TSPCA) who submitted a formal written complaint on Sunday.
The video captures two bullock carts racing on the stretch of road between D-Mart towards Silver Park signal, while the audience shouts and cheers. One cart has three men riding it while the other has four. As they ensure that the bullocks run as fast as they could, the cart with four men skids and one by one all the four fall even as the bullock with the cart swerves left.
Majumdar said that the entire act is not only a violation of the order dated October 2017 of PIL No 23132 of 2017 of Bombay High Court which bans bullock cart racing in Maharashtra unless permissions have been granted by the authorities.
"Apart from being a contempt of court, this activity is completely illegal as per the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. Going by the fact that there is evidence that the bullock cart slipped and people fell off, I have also asked the cops to register a case under Section 188 because the race on a public road could have caused danger to human life and safety," added Majumdar and stated that the cops now need to investigate the matter and take action as per law.
A cop from Kashimira police station said that they were busy with security deployment for New Year's Eve and would investigate the matter from Monday.
