Crackdown on bullfights begins in Goa

Margao: Within days of South Goa collector Egna Cleetus’s stern orders to intensify crackdowns on illegal bullfights by strengthening intelligence-gathering operations, South Goa police have begun delivering results.

Colva police arrested Liyakat Ali Shaikh from Margao and Conceico Rodrigues from Benaulim for organising a bullfight on Thursday in an open field behind the cemetery at Betalbatim.

Both accused were charged under Sections 11(m) and 11(n) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

Colva police said the accused organised the fight between two bulls named ‘Assam’ and ‘Guzzur’ “for public entertainment, inciting the animals to fight each other in full public view, thereby subjecting them to cruelty.”

Illegal bullfights and safety violations were the focus of a high-level law and order coordination meeting chaired by Cleetus earlier this week. The review meeting placed particular emphasis on dhirios that continue to flout legal restrictions despite repeated crackdowns by police.

Cleetus issued directives to police to maintain round-the-clock surveillance and take immediate action to prevent such events.

The directives came in the wake of a recent incident at Colva where an FIR was registered against organisers of an illegal bullfight.

More complaints have been received by police about similar illegal activities on the coastal belt.

Stating that cops were determined to double down their efforts against dhirios, a senior police officer said, “We have been conducting round-the-clock surveillance as instructed by the collector.”

Police have successfully prevented several such events in recent weeks, the officer said.

Nevertheless, police sources said that the penalty of a paltry amount provided in the statute fails to serve as a deterrent to the perpetrators.