Cruelty against stray animals on the rise in India amid lack of effective laws
Maximum punishment under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960 is a fine of US 70 cents or imprisonment up to three months or both
Cruelty to animals in India is a concern which Indians appear not ready to take responsibility for, with attacks on stray animals, especially dogs, becoming part of daily life.
In the capital New Delhi, an unidentified man was caught on CCTV attacking a dog and killing a puppy outside a metro station. A housewife in the southern state of Karnataka smashed eight puppies on a boulder. In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, a man in an inebriated state poured acid on five new born puppies and their mother. The west central state of Maharashtra registered a case in which a traffic police officer was arrested for the brutal assault on a stray dog, which led to permanent blindness in one eye. Around 50 community dogs were sedated with food laced with pesticide and then burned alive in the south-eastern state of Tamil Nadu.
All these incidents took place within the span of a month, with the last one occurring recently.
“In Hindu culture, we are taught that the same soul that is in a human being is the same in all animals. It is also an animate thing, so we have to treat everything equally. Thus we have to treat all the animals with grave respect,” explains Geeta Seshamani, 65, vice-president of New Delhi’s Friendicoes SECA, a non-governmental organisation working to protect stray animals.
Prevention of cruelty to animals came in 1960, but the penalties have not been revised for the last 50 years
There is no central agency where all these cases can be documented, but NGOs including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, People for Animals, Friendicoes and certain welfare organisations report constant complaints regarding animal cruelty.