Jallikattu death toll reaches 4 as more spectators killed in Tamil Nadu

The victims were identified as spectators who were injured after charging bulls broke into the crowd.

Three people were killed during two separate Jallikattu events in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, taking the death toll related to the controversial bull-taming sport to four.

Participants trying to tame a bull during the Alanganallur jallikattu in Madurai district on Tuesday.(PTI)

In both the incidents, the victims were identified as spectators who were injured after charging bulls broke into the crowd.

According to police, 25-year-old Solai Pandi was killed after being attacked by a bull at a Jallikattu event held at Manaparai village near Tiruchirapalli.

Tiruchirapalli district superintendent of police PSC Kalayan said investigation was on in the incident and action will be taken if a complaint was made. “According to my information, Sola Pandi was not a spectator, but had accompanied the bull owner from Pudukottai to the event and was attacked by the bull when he was being led away from the venue,” he said.

In the second incident, spectators Ramanathan and Kasi were injured after a bull charged into the crowd during a Manju Virattu — a variant of Jallikattu— event held at a village in Sivagangai district.

A spectator was gored to death by a bull in similar fashion at Palamedu in Madurai on Monday.

While the deaths have raised questions about the precautions taken at Jallikattu events, the organisers maintained that they had adopted all the necessary security arrangements. They said that the accidents took place because the spectators ignored the instructions that were being relayed from time to time through loudspeakers.

A senior Madurai administration official said if it were not for the precautions taken by them, many more people would have lost their lives in the bull-taming sport.

“In a sport of valour, danger is only to be expected and is not out of the place,” said Jallikattu enthusiast and bull tamer Ranjit Pandian. A software engineer from Bangalore, Pandian said just like cricket cannot be banned if a player dies on the field after being hit by a ball, similarly Jallikattu should not face any action if a bull tamer dies.

“In this sport danger is ever present but it is the alertness of the player and the precautions one takes that is important, he added.