GUWAHATI — The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government to ensure that no buffalo fights — locally known as Moh juj — take place in the state, and to initiate penal action against any organisers of such events until further orders.
The interim order was passed in response to a writ petition filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India), following buffalo fights held illegally across several districts of Assam in January, during the Bohag Bihu period.
The court observed that buffalo fights in Assam cannot be permitted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and that organising such events would be in direct violation of binding judicial precedents.
PETA India had placed before the court fresh photo and video documentation showing blood-soaked buffaloes with open wounds being beaten with thick sticks and yanked by ropes attached to their noses — forcing them to fight and sustaining severe injuries in the process. The footage also captured a man being struck by a fleeing buffalo during one of the events.
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This is not the first time the courts have moved against such events in Assam.
In December 2024, the Gauhati High Court had already quashed a state government Standard Operating Procedure dated December 27, 2023, which had attempted to permit buffalo and bulbul bird fights during a specific window of the year. That SOP was found to be in violation of a Supreme Court judgement from May 7, 2014 — in the Animal Welfare Board of India v. A. Nagaraja case — which prohibits animal spectacles involving inherent cruelty.
Despite those clear and binding directions, the illegal fights were organised again in January — prompting PETA India to return to court with new evidence.
"We thank the Gauhati High Court for establishing the clear expectation that we must protect buffaloes from abuse," said Vikram Chandravanshi, Senior Policy and Legal Advisor at PETA India. "Beating terrified animals bloody for public spectacle has no place in a modern society."
PETA India reiterated that buffaloes are sentient animals that experience pain and fear, and do not naturally seek to fight. The organisation also argued that such events contradict the principles of ahimsa — non-violence — and compassion that are central to Indian culture and tradition.