Hundreds of people in Tamil Nadu's Madurai district violated the Coronavirus lockdown to pay homage to a temple bull -- winner of several prizes in the Jallikattu -- who passed away on April 12.
A report in The Quint put the number of participants at the funeral in thousands. Taking action, the police have booked seven people from the village and transferred two cops in connection with the incident.
"It was a temple bull and died of old age. It is the custom for the villagers to do `pooja' and bury when a temple bull dies. This bull is said to have won prizes in Jallikattu events and was very popular among the villagers there," P. Rajasekharan, President, Jallikattu Paadukappu Peravai told IANS.
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Temple bulls are allowed to roam freely and are not kept tied.
A police official in Madurai told IANS that they had registered an FIR naming seven people and mentioning several unnamed persons.
It is learnt, the 10-year old bull fell sick last week and later died on Sunday.
Following the death, several villagers paid homage to the dead bull and it was carried around the village in a procession leading to the participation of many more. Later, the body of the bull was buried.
The funeral ceremony and the procession was uploaded on social media resulting in police action.
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Tamil Nadu is under lockdown due to the spread of coronavirus and as per regulations very close relatives of deceased people can participate in funerals.
Police said initially about 30 people participated in the bull funeral ceremony but later the crowd grew into a large gathering.
