Patna,(BiharTimes): A zero FIR was lodged in Delhi on Sunday against organisers of SonepurCattle Fair, including the Saran district administration, tourism department and horse and elephant owners by the India wing of Italy-based International Organisation for Animal Protection.

It has been filed hours after the horse and elephant races were organized in the Sonepur Cattle Fair.

Zero FIR is an FIR that can be filed in any police station, irrespective of place of incident/jurisdiction, and the same can be later transferred to the police station concerned.

According to reports Gauri Maulekhi, member-secretary, People For Animals (PFA), another animal advocacy group, has also claimed to file a public interest litigation in Patna High Court against the organisers of the fair, including Saran district magistrate Kundan Kumar, for gross violation of animal welfare norms and even important court verdicts related to animal protection.

Reports suggest that on Sunday, the district magistrate, in a blatant violation of wildlife protection norms and recent directives issues by Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), presided over a horse race event at Sonepur Cattle Fair.

Ironically, the district magistrate, in a letter on November 4, issued a directive to ban any kind of animal race activities in the cattle fair.

Other officials in the district administration at the race venue claimed that horses and elephants were bought for exhibition only.

Member of Pashupalak Sangh Vinod Kumar was quoted in the Telegraph as saying: “This petty horse and elephant races are being held as a traditional ritual since long. If these horses do not show their strength in races then who would buy them? If the elephants are not tied with spiked chains then how would the mahouts control them?”

Naresh Kadian of IOPA and convener, Animal Welfare Party, who lodged the zero FIR with Prashant Vihar police station, Delhi on Sunday claimed that such exhibition of elephants comes under the category of performance of wild animals, which is again banned.

The report also said that horse races are allowed at only 33 registered turf clubs in India and for any such race, one needs the AWBI approval, as per the Performing Animal Registration Rules, 2011.