If a man bites dog in India, the fine is only Rs.50|A take on the Weak Animal Protection Laws

When will India wake up to a 2.0 version of Prevention to Animal Cruelty Act 1960? Are the parliamentarians mere representatives of people? Who will take charge to formulate new laws or amend the existing ones pertaining to animal welfare and their protection from pain and misery? Inhumane actions against mute animals are detrimental to the development of the nation as a whole.

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Inflicting brutality on humble and helpless beings is an outcome of a regressive mindset or a lack of education. Recently an MLA and his associates made headlines for an infamous act of thrashing a police horse with sticks named Shaktiman during a protest in Dehradun staged against the state government.

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In another appalling episode this month in Bengaluru, wife of an ex-serviceman smashed to death eight new born pups against a rock. These blatant murders were carried on the pretext of teaching the mother of the newborns a lesson for delivering the babies in the drain running along the accused person’s house. The new mother was seen digging the puppies out of their burial place in order to feed and nurse them. The police booked a case against the woman on the charges of animal cruelty.

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An NGO that goes by the name of Fauna Police has announced a cash reward of Rupees one lakh to any person who can provide information or help trace a man who attacked four stray dogs with a pointed weapon and murdered one puppy. The heartwrenching incident took place outside the Green Park Metro Station located in South Delhi. The injured dogs were taken to a nearby clinic upon being discovered by shopkeepers in the area on the morning of 15^th of March. The CCTV Footage from the camera set up outside the metro station showed the accused unnecessarily stabbing the dogs. A case has been registered against this criminal under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Animal Preservation Act. According to Varun an animal rights activist, a similar incident took place in the preceding month at Gate No. 3 of the same Metro Station.

Frendicoes SECA a Delhi NGO that looks after senior dogs, stray animals such as cats and dogs, as well as runs adoption programmes for orphaned pups, offers medical assistance to working equines, and so on reports on an average six cases daily of brutal attacks on dogs including throwing of acid by humans on them. Geeta Seshamani of Frendicoes states that majority of such attacks are carried out on strays that have been accepted as community pets and these four legged beings begin to trust humans. Sadly their trust is often betrayed and they become an easy target for directing on them unkind attacks.

Weak Laws with little Substance

It has been observed in the past that when an offender charged with animal abuse is arrested, the wrongdoer is easily granted bail. Let us study the Prevention of cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 a bit more deeply to expose the many of its shortcomings. For the first offence an offender can get away with just a fine of RS 50. Incase another offence is committed within three years from the date of the first one then the accused is fined between Rs 10 to a maximum of Rs 100, or imprisoned for a period of three months or penalized with both. This is a mere representation of a shoddy state of affairs. Such laws offer practically no protection to animals against brutality.  Due to the weak laws attacks directed on innocent animals have more than doubled in the last few years. People for Animals (PFA) in Delhi receives around 200 complaints everyday of people beating/attacking animals, also many a times humans caring for these mute creatures are made to suffer and attacked.

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As far as animal welfare is concerned India must take a leaf out of the western countries’ book.

Class A felonies are the most serious type of crimes such as rape, first degree murder or arson. In the USA animal cruelty comes under the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s listing of class A felony. In Australia a person charged with a crime against animal can be imprisoned for a maximum of five years and fined AUS $50,000. In case a corporation is involved in a similar crime the fine is AUS $250,000.

Another form of cruelty is the overloading of animals used for pulling heavy loads. According to Gauri Maulekhi trustee for People for Animals, Delhi, the law that sets the maximum load limit for an average sized buffalo at 150 kg is often flouted. She further adds that animals are stuffed in trucks and transported from one place to another in pitiable conditions, thus going against the sections under the Motor Vehicle Act.

Tolerance Is the need of the Hour

“Pressures of city life might be pushing people to become less tolerant and take out their anger on the nearest and most defenseless things possible”, says Chinny Krishna, vice-chairman of the Animal Welfare Board of India. He further adds that human beings who show cruelty towards animals eventually turn malicious towards fellow humans as well.

A society characterized by anarchy and violence may not be too far away. We must all learn to cohabit amicably with different animal species such as cats, dogs, birds and so on.

Dog bites and the fear of rabies lead people to develop a negative mindset against strays. One-third of world’s total deaths caused by rabies occur in India as established by a recent study printed in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

According to the National Livestock Census 2012, there are 1.71 crore stray dogs together in rural & urban India. Therefore it is important to control this population by adopting an effective neutering/spaying agenda.

SPAYING Instead of Culling

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Slaughter of stray animals such as dogs is not the right way to curb an increase in their population. Municipal bodies of many states/areas such as the South Delhi municipal Corporation have achieved tremendous success in controlling the population of stray dogs by neutering them. This has also resulted in reducing the incidence of dog bites.

Resource Box:

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-cops-look-for-man-who-killed-puppy-stabbed-dogs/

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/When-man-bites-dog-the-fines-just-50/articleshow/51566526.cms

http://beingindian.com/featured/bengaluru-woman-bashes-puppies/

http://envfor.nic.in/legis/awbi/awbi01.html