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[Volume 2, Issue 6] – June, 2017
Author – Divya Singh, B.A. LL.B. (H), Amity Law School, Lucknow
Co-Author – Areeb Uddin Ahmed, B.A. Lbb. (H), Faculty Of Law, Aligarh Muslim University
Abstract
Cruelty against animals is a very important aspect of crimes occurring in our country but these crimes are considered minimal and thus the criminals who commit such crimes are encouraged even more to perform activities that involves harming or injuring animals. Incidents have occurred regarding the same in the past years which literally make a person shiver witnessing such a horrifying behavior of humans towards the innocent animals. The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental right to every individual of India to live a life with liberty and dignity but should we not consider animals when we talk about right to life? Are they not living creatures? Don’t they suffer if they are hit or even used to carry heavy weight or beaten to dead?
Animals are harmed in the name of religion as well. In India, Hindus and Muslims exist maximum in number and two religions are involved in sacrificing of animals. Do such activities really pleases their God? Many public interest litigations have been filed for the protection of animal rights, where some of them really helped but the others didn’t. There are legislative acts for the same but are the people even aware of them? And do the ones who are aware of them stand for the rights of the animals? Animals are being mistreated on the roads, in circuses as well as homes. The laws enacted has minimal punishment for committing offences relating to animal cruelty that the offenders are not scared of committing them again.
Does India not require serious implementation of laws for the rights of animals? Why do the innocent creatures have to suffer for the needs of the heartless humans who do not think twice before harming them?
INTRODUCTION
Mahatma Gandhi has rightly said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” It has been the propensity of people to pressurize and manhandle the weaker ones and the individuals who can’t represent themselves or are unequipped of doing as such. What’s more, viciousness has taken that part in the lives of people which is going up plainly, significantly harder to diminish. Creatures have likewise happened to be victims of such casualties and rough exercises of people. It has become a regular practice of humans to abuse animals and treat them as if they are mere things who are feeling less.
Awareness is being spread at a great level, laws are being enacted and implemented but the fear of the punishment is also not lessening the activities of such kind. Like any other crime, harming animals is also a major crime in India but people fail to understand this and they categorize the treatment given to humans and animals in major way. Most of them do not consider it a crime but a regular activity going in our society. From recent times up to now, there has been no great difference in the applicability of animal laws or bringing about a change where such laws are concerned.
In India when we talk about cruelty to animals there are many aspects and most of them are visible if we look around in our surroundings. Despite having many traditions rooted in animism, and an admiration for the natural world, India has not been an easy place for animals. We cannot outlook the realities as there are incidents happening in our own backyards that we cannot ignore. With every stick or stone used to harm an animal, a part of our own humanity dies.
To start with, in January 2016 a bear was beaten to an inch of its life in a village called
‘Chitradurga’ which is situated in Karnataka, India. The bear was attacked by the locals with sticks and massive rocks, and the animal wouldn’t even survived if the officials hadn’t arrived on the spot to rescue, yet no action was taken. When we talk about ‘cruelty’ it should be taken as an equal term, as on humans and animals, no one is ‘privileged’ for the same. Moving towards another incident which took place in March of the same year, where a woman killed ‘eight puppies’ just to teach the mother of those puppies a lesson for she gave them birth outside her gate in Bangalore. When we talk about ‘Right to life’ which is laid down in our Constitution, only Humans don’t have the privilege of the same, Who gave her the right to take away life of these ‘Eight Defenseless Puppies’ ? Being a girl, one should or perhaps can understand the pain a mother goes through after witnessing her children being driven to death. Plato and ancient Greek philosopher said, “Man…is
a tame or civilized animal; never the less, he requires proper instruction and a fortunate nature, and then of all animals he becomes the most divine and most civilized; but if he be insufficiently or ill- educated he is the most savage of earthly creatures.” The mentioned incident just describes what the great man once quoted.
In certain temples in the Southern part of India labor is extracted from elephants as a result of which 12 of them died in Kerala last year and 3 died in Tamil Nadu. A PIL was filed which revealed that many of them were malnourished and ill-treated. Elephants are not for the purpose of labor extraction, in fact no animal is born to bear any amount of cruelty. Though, such incidents reflect the amount of cruelty being done to the animals.
In the same year in November, a leopard was ‘beaten to death’ by the locals of a village named Mandwar, also, the incident was filmed. When we are shifting towards ‘urbanization’ and urban culture, we often forget where these animals belong. Not only the Indian leopards are dwindling in number but human settlements have been encroaching on their natural habitats. What is the first impression we get when we talk about ‘doctors’? Life saviors! Right? A body of a female monkey was tied up and then it was burnt and the female monkey was beaten up brutally, it was also reported by one of the channels that “a stick had been inserted in her rectum and forced out of her body.” This act was done by some students who were in the midway of their career which was unfortunately ‘Medical’. At the annual Mailapur village fair in Karnataka’s Yadgir district, worshippers throw live lambs at the palanquin of Mailareshwara. In the melee, hundreds of devotees trample and kill the young animals, there are certain customs where the animals suffer ‘cruelty’ and this needs to be discontinued. There are many festivals in India which involves ‘animal sacrifices’ and other aspects of the same.
The ritual, slaying of a goat on the occasion of Bakri Idd is a socially imposed custom of every Muslim family. Some pay lakhs of rupees for particular goats like “chand ka bakra” which have white shaped markings resembling the moon. In addition to specially fed and fattened goats, camels also get sacrificed. It is a common practice in humans to behead animals like sheep, goats and male buffaloes ritually on auspicious days, in and around temples all over India. The temples of the goddess Kali are the slaughter grounds for goats as well. “Do the people really think that their kind and compassionate God is pleased when life in taken in his name?” Hinduism also considers animal sacrifice right and it is also mentioned in the Mahabharata and the Rig Veda. Bull sacrifice is made to obtain Purusharthas in the Hindu religion.
Jallikattu is a traditional sport in Tamil Nadu in which a pure breed of bull, Bos indicus bull is released into a crowd of people. Multiple human participants attempt to grab the large hump of the bull with both arms and hang on to it while the bull attempts to escape. It may read easy, but is very difficult. One of the rule states that the tamer should hold on to the hump of the bull for 30 seconds or 15 feet, whichever is longer when the bull runs. And if no one manages to do that, the bull is declared as the winner. It sounds so moderate? Right? But it isn’t. There was an investigation by the Animal Welfare Board which reflected how the Bulls are provoked by biting their tails and twisting it, and by forcefully giving them alcohol so that they can be provoked for the same. Bull is not a performing animal but a very calm animal, although, in this festival bulls are provoked so that it can run. Hence, it can be concluded that ‘Cruelty’ is inherited in the same. In the case of Khed Taluka Chalak Malak Sangh & Ors. Versus Smt. Gargi Gogoi & Ors.((SLP (C) 4268 of 2013)), the Supreme Court imposed a complete ban on the bullock cart races in the country. SC said that bulls could not be used as performing animals, either for the Jallikattu or bullock-cart races.
One of the news channel managed to do a reality check at four poultry farms of Haryana. Despite wary owners who insisted on selective guided tours, at one poultry farm weak baby chicks were kept in plastic containers, where they eventually died. Those that lived were thrown in a nearby farm land, along with eggs that had gone bad. Children from poor families wait at the fringes, accompanied by neighborhood dogs, all eager to scavenge a meal. Cruelty is being done is every aspect, whether it is done for business, religion or even a political aspect.
Recently, in December a man chopped off the legs of a puppy in ‘Dwarka, New Delhi’. The man had initially offered food to a stray pup that had entered his house. In its enthusiasm, the puppy had scratched him because of which he brought out a blade to punish the animal. The incident must be sounding so small, but each and every life counts, a case was also filed for the same under PACA, but no such action was taken as such.
Festivals like Shand and Bhunda involve a huge number of animals being killed using a knife by a man known as Beda to please goddess Kali and to ward off evil spirits, at the entrance of temples near Shimla. In regions around Pune, goats and fowls are sacrificed to the God Vetala. In western Maharashtra, animal sacrifice is practiced to pacify female deities that are supposed to rule the sacred groves.
In West Bengal’s Kalighat, thousands of sheep are sacrificed every year. In other parts too, a priest recites the Gayatri Mantra in the ear of the animal to be sacrificed in order to free the animal from the cycle of life and death.
Nihangs and Hazuri Sikhs sacrifice goats during the festivals of Diwali and Hola Mohalla and distribute it as mahaprashad among the congregates. Anyone converting to a Nihang Sikh has to sacrifice an animal. In Terekol of Goa, the barbaric custom of teenage boys biting a piglet to death in celebration of St John’s baptism ended in 1989 following protests by animal rights activists, charitable trusts and NGOs. Despite having many traditions rooted in animism, and an admiration for the natural world, India has not been an easy place for animals. While the realities of there are incidents happening in our own backyards that we cannot ignore. With every stick or stone used to harm an animal, a part of our own humanity dies. Every Life Counts, any killing of animals in the name of any religion. It feels that we exhibit hypocrisy by demanding human rights for ourselves but denying the elementary right of life to our fellow creatures. Taking the life of a defenseless innocent animal and calling it a sacrifice is surely a demonstration of much undeveloped moral values.
In spite of having numerous customs established in animism, and an appreciation for the common world, India has not been a simple place for creatures. While the substances of these are episodes occurring in our own circumambient that we can’t overlook. With each stick or stone used to hurt a creature, a piece of humankind bites the dust.
Each Life Counts, any destruction of creatures for the sake of any religion. It feels that we display lip service by requesting human rights for ourselves however precluding the basic appropriate from claiming life to our kindred animals. Ending the life of a vulnerable pure creature and calling it a give up is unquestionably a show of quite undeveloped good esteems.
In yet another incident which shows the pathetic condition of animal rights in our country, three people were arrested for allegedly tying three puppies together and then setting them on fire in Hyderabad. According to CNN-News18, the three youths who burnt the puppies alive also shot a video of the incident. The report also said that one of the youths was even heard instructing the others to set the puppies on fire.
The law for animal rights has always been weak in India. If the culprit is a first time offender, the maximum punishment is Rs 50. If the culprit is a repeat offender, the maximum punishment is a fine of Rs 100 and imprisonment for three months.
According to the Section 11 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, if a person “beats, kicks, over-rides, over-drives, over-loads, tortures or otherwise treats any animal so as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering or causes, or being the owner permits, any animal to be so treated,” that person shall be punished “in the case of a first offence, with fine which shall not be less than ten rupees but which may extend to fifty rupees and in the case of a second or subsequent offence committed within three years of the previous offence, with fine which shall not be less than twenty-five rupees but which may extend, to one hundred rupees or with imprisonment for a term which may extend, to three months, or with both.”
In March this year, a woman in Bengaluru had killed eight puppies by flinging them onto a boulder to teach the mother (of the pups) ‘a lesson’. And the ‘lesson’ was given because the mother of the puppies had simply given birth in a drain next to her house
Just a day before that, a man had been caught on camera brutally stabbing three stray dogs and killing a puppy outside Green Park metro station in south Delhi. In July 2015, a man had tortured a dog by whirling it around after holding its legs and then throwing it at a parked car in Delhi. Until the laws against animal cruelty in India do not become stringent, such heinous crimes will not stop occurring. It is high time the government acts on such a delicate issue.
Animal cruelty cases, which are both bailable and account for scanty fines, don’t compel offenders to even come to court. Data suggests, between 2011 and 2016, the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) had registered over 20,000 cases of animal cruelty at various police stations. However, in 13,089 of these cases, the accused did not appear in court, but still paid the fines. “The fines for animal cruelty are too meagre for a person to not hesitate to harm an animal several times,” said Lt. Col (Dr) J C Khanna, BSPCA Secretary.
The Prevention of Cruelty against Animals (PCA) Act 1960 covers all forms of physical torture or abuse against animals. Any such act is punishable for the first time with a fine of Rs 10 which may extend up to Rs 50. The fine for the second offence ranges between Rs 25 and Rs 100. Where voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to any human being is punishable under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the same gives punishment for both of imprisonment for a year and imprisonment up to seven years respectively, why is there such a huge gap between the two knowing that both are living creatures and are created by the almighty on the same planet. Don’t they have equal rights of living peacefully and respectfully? Why is it that the ones who cannot defend themselves are always the ones tortured and harassed?
Under the Widlife Act, cruelty to animals like peacocks, which is a non-cognizable and non compoundable offence, the maximum punishment as per Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, is six years, or a fine of Rs 25,000, or both. This simply means that any person who is found harming the National Bird of our Nation get imprisonment up to maximum of six years and then he is free of all charges. The punishment is even less than the crime of assaulting the President of India. He is the one who shall respect the nation as well as the National Bird of India but still the bird has been given less importance than the leader of the country.
Also, it is illegal to use animals like langurs or snakes for one’s profession as buying/selling/possessing monkeys/langurs and snakes violates the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
The animal cruelty cases that go to trial last a maximum of two hearing, depending if the offender doesn’t come to court on the first hearing. These cases are very quickly dealt with, where the judge would only ask ‘Gunaah kabool hai?’ (Do you admit the crime?), and the offender because he has appeared in court says ‘kabool’ (admit) and pays the fine and the matter is over. The data further indicates that cattle — cows, bullocks, goats, etc — are most cruelly treated. A steady rise in cruelty cases against cattle was observed between 2011-13, with 1,842, 2,189 and 2,957 trials reported respectively.
While cruelty to pets and animals is a punishable offence, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, levies a measly fine of just Rs10 to Rs100. With the fine so low, the law is not acting as a deterrent.
Apart from the cruelty and abuse animals are facing in the outside world, many of them are also facing the same in the home they stay. Many pets run away when the doors are left open by mistake. In the absence of any protocol to reunite them with their families, many of them never meet their parents again. It is as difficult as a human for animals to live a new life in an environment. Sudden change of places leads to their bad health and death as well. Owners dump their pets to get rid of them and get a good amount of money as well. Neither the adoption laws of animals are strict nor the laws which involved getting rid of them. If these laws were strictly enacted and implemented then this wouldn’t have been the condition of animals in our countries. Animals are being bought because they are cute, as status symbols, or, as toys. This often ends in abandonment, neglect or abuse. Companion animals are left chained or caged alone for hours, without food or water. They are physically abused, abandoned, or even killed.
India has various laws for the protection of animals but are they functioning properly? Are the offenders of such crimes burdened with heavy fines and long term imprisonment behind the bars?
The Indian judiciary has come across many cases for the protection of animal rights. In the case of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Union of India((W.P(C) No. 23480/2005)), the Hon’ble Bombay High Court ruled that any film which uses animals or films must obtain a certificate from animal welfare board in order to obtain film certificate from censor board. This was done simply to make sure that animals if used for filming purposes are not harmed. Also everyone must have noticed that before a film in a cinema hall commences, it is mentioned by the makers of the film that no animal was harmed during the making of the film.
It is laid down in the Constitution of India under Article 51A (g) that it shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen of India to have compassion for all living creatures. It is very saddening to witness that Indians do not understand the value of the fundamental duty that they should follow as being a part of the country. Change begins with every person trying to improve and change themselves individually. But, from subjecting animals to meaningless experiments in cosmetic-testing laboratories to killing one animal in front of the other in an illegal slaughterhouse, from holding cockfights to boiling monitor lizards alive to extract oil from their bodies, mankind does it all and that too shamelessly. It is for us who are aware and informed to keep our comforts aside momentarily and become the voice for these mute, speechless animals as they wage their lonely hopeless battle against the all powerful ‘man’.
Sections 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 considers killing, injuring or hurting any mammal a punishable offence. The incidents discussed above are violating these sections wholly but did either of them face the punishment they should have. Enacting a law and actually implementing it rightly has a lot difference between it. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 have been enacted for the protection of the animals as well but neither of them is being used in the correct manner. Where hefty fines are imposed for fines such as robbery and theft then why not for crimes of harming a living creature?
Killing or torturing humans is considered to be a crime though many among us pay mute
witnesses to incidences of animal cruelty happening all around us on a daily basis. The fact is that laws do exist in our country for protection of cruelty towards animals but are we aware of them or are they being implemented in the right manner? The main laws are The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. However few people and even fewer policemen and lawyers are aware of these laws and animals becomes victims of such incidents due to the ignorance nature of humans towards such laws.
Overloading donkeys with bricks, exhausting the elephant and camels with over riding in a mela or at a tourist spot, whipping the horse and the bullock pulling the tonga or the cart, stuffing the cages with chickens in your local meat shop, transporting cattle and livestock one on top of the other in trucks while being taken to slaughterhouses or even treating a pet with neglect, not providing him adequate food or water or chaining him in the sun, killing, maiming beating an animal. Each of these acts is an act of animal cruelty under either Section 11 or Section 12 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 (PCA Act 1960).
PCA Act is a Central Act and is in force throughout the Indian Territory. There are many rules drafted within this Act that look into usage of animals in films, transport of animals rules, rules for prevention of cruelty to draught and farm animals and many more. Though in terms of penal provisions these laws are still weak and in urgent need to be reformed, but that will only happen when public wants or asks for it as the animals themselves will never be able to do so, contrary to the activists who fight battles for laws to protect tribal rights or gay rights for that matter!
Many of us see overloaded mules or an overloaded bullock/horse cart on the roads every day. Most people prefer to ignore that sight but even when the very few who are aware of animal cruelty laws objects to the ‘owner’ of the animal being ill-treated to not to inflict their animal with cruelty, generally the owner objects loudly in retaliation! The reason behind this marked indifference on part of the ‘owner’ towards the pain and suffering of their very own animal is because humans treat animals as ‘commodities’ and ‘machines’, something that they have purchased and they now ‘own’, something that they are within their rights to both, use as well as abuse!
Below is a list of what every citizen should do when they see someone inflicting cruelty upon animals:
1. Complain to the local state SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)/Animal
Welfare Organizations working in your area, though as an entity an NGO can’t enforce the law, but they can put you in touch with an animal activist who deals in filing complaints and bringing attention to such matters with legal or media-based intervention. Importantly, Animal welfare Organizations and Animal hospitals can be contacted to provide relief to the suffering animal.
2. Contact the Police: On a national level, Police are the major enforcement body for the PCA Act 1960. They are obliged to take action against the offender and render help to the suffering animals as per the procedure outlined in the PCA Act when the offence against the animal is amongst those listed in Section 11 or 12 of the PCA Act. Police are even obliged to extend help to the enforcement staff of SPCA as well as ordinary citizens to lodge a complaint/FIR against an incident of animal cruelty. If the Police doesn’t adhere to your complaint, you can also contact the magistrate directly with a written complaint.
One can also lodge a complaint under Section 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 under which, ‘mischief of killing or maiming an animal amounts to an offence’ and the offender can be imprisoned for up to five years or a fine or both.
3. Know the law: for example a donkey should be loaded with only 35 kgs of weight at one time; the permissible loading capacity of a truck is 4 buffaloes or 40 sheep/goats. Anything over and above it is technically illegal under the law.
Learn to make a distinction of cognizable and non-cognizable offences outlined in the PCA act 1960. Section 43 of Criminal Procedure Code empowers every citizen the right to perform a ‘citizen’s arrest’ i.e the right to arrest a person who has committed in their presence a ‘cognizable’ offence, an offence for which the offender can be arrested without a warrant.
Cognizable offences under PCA Act 1962 include the following:
a) Under Section 12 of the PCA Act, 1962, injecting oxytocin injections to cows/milch animals, to improve lactation/milk-giving capacity – which is injurious to health of the animal or permitting such operation to be performed by any other person on the animal he/she ‘owns’ is a cognizable offence. However, this may be one of the most common things that you see used by local legal/illegal dairy owners throughout the country.
b) Under Section 11(1)(l), mutilating or killing any animal, including stray dogs by using
poisoning methods or any other unnecessarily cruel means
c) Under Section 11(1)(n) organizing/keeping/using any place for animal fighting/baiting and receiving money on the same.
d) Under Section 11(1)(o), promoting or taking part in any shooting match or competition
wherein animals are released from captivity for the purpose of shooting/killing.
4. Documentation is the ‘Key’: In your complaint, be as factual and precise of your observation of the animal crime. Give precise dates, times, locations and photographic evidence if any (while remembering to keep a photocopy with yourself). You are also advised to keep a record of all the officers you are interacting with so that if they don’t listen you can proceed to the next level in the hierarchy to demand justice for the animal/s you are fighting for. Getting a vet’s certificate for the animal in consideration would also prove to be good documentary and supporting evidence.
When reporting animal cruelty, we should look out for the following: Physical condition of the animal, telltale signs of animal cruelty, cruelty during their training and practice, housing (size of cages), overcrowding, mode of transportation, sanitation and hygiene.
5. Stand up, speak up against injustice. Never give up, keep up the effort!
What makes cruelty to animals morally unpardonable and unacceptable, over and above human cruelty? Humans can still protest against cruelty meted out to them, they have a voice to raise alarm, hands to hit back. The animals sadly don’t have those options either, so in effect they are defenseless in the face of the cruelty humans mete out to them, be it for their own pleasure, benefit or to fulfill their sadistic desires!
Fyodor Dostoevsky once said that, “no animal could ever be as cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.”
“When you report cruelty, don’t stop there”. The courts generally give custody of the animal back to the owner at the first hearing. Lawyers make you go round and round with procedures and often lose sight of the objective altogether. Get involved at every step. Understand the procedure yourself.
You do not need an LLB to understand the law. It’s YOUR case. Be aggressive. Be proactive. Don’t leave things to the lawyers, prosecution or otherwise. Activists must be there to push things around.