Despite a Supreme Court prohibition on animal duels, traditional buffalo battles, referred to locally as “Moh juj,” were held in some areas of the Morigaon district in central Assam as part of Magh Bihu festivities.Local residents participated in the festivities, which took place in Baidyabori and Ahatguri, according to accounts in the local media. District authorities said the matter is under judice and declined to comment.More than forty pairs of buffaloes were brought to Baidyabori by their owners, and some fights were said to have lasted more than twenty minutes. Thirty-three pairs of buffaloes engaged in combat at Ahatguri, drawing sizable throngs of onlookers to see the customary event that coincided with the harvest festival.
A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) allowing buffalo and bulbul bird battles during Magh Bihu was released by the Assam government in 2023. But in December 2024, the Gauhati High Court invalidated the SOP, citing a 2014 Supreme Court ruling that prohibited such actions.Buffalo battles have historically occurred in Morigaon, Sivasagar, and various Upper Assam districts, with Ahatguri being the most well-known location, whilst bulbul bird fights are customarily conducted in the Hayagriva Madhav temple in Hajo in Kamrup district.
In the meanwhile, the state administration has amended the current legislation to make traditional buffalo battles permissible. Similar to Tamil Nadu’s Jallikattu exemption, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Assam Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Assam Legislative Assembly in November, aims to exclude traditional buffalo battles from the concept of animal cruelty.
