It’s a rough life being a fighting cock, when danger lurks both in and outside the arena.
Earlier this week, police in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh raided an illegal cockfight betting operation in the district of Betul following a tipoff. However, the organizers and bettors in attendance all managed to make good their escape, leaving the police without anything to show for their efforts.
As a result, the police decided to ‘arrest’ the two roosters who were left behind by their owners in the confusion. Before the roosters could lawyer up, local villagers reportedly ratted out the birds’ owners, who were summarily dragged before a local judge on Thursday and fined the whopping sum of Rs 1k (US$15.65) after admitting their guilt.
While the two roosters were required to appear in court alongside their owners, they appear to have escaped further punishment. Although, that depends on how pissed off and/or hungry their owners were after their public shaming.
Last Friday, India’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal of a lower court ruling that upheld the ban on cockfighting. Despite this ruling, this week has seen a surge in illegal cockfighting across the country in connection with the three-day Sankrati harvest festival. In the state of Andrha Pradesh alone, nearly 2k individuals were charged with cockfighting and gambling offenses.
Indian media frequently reports on local politicians openly attending cockfights, despite the illegality of both the cockfights and the betting that accompanies the bloodsport. As the managing director of Humane Society International recently put it, “a practice that glorifies so many illegal activities should have no place in a civilized society.”
Police have attempted to discourage cockfighting by threatening to prosecute not only the organizers but also the landowners on whose property the events are held. But these deterrents have so far proved ineffective.
If the authorities really want to consign cockfighting to the ash heap of embarrassing history, they should relax the country’s excessively tough gambling restrictions, which limit casinos to a handful of states and prohibit sports betting of any kind. Until then, India’s gambling market will be the very definition of a cockup.
