Animal cruelty: 50 fine too small to be a deterrent

Bengaluru: Crime against another human being invites the harshest punishment. However, animal abuse mostly related to dogs, cats, livestock and so on invites a fine of mere Rs 50 and the perpetrators are free to go. Not long ago, a video of four men brutally beating a stray dog went viral on many social media platforms. The incident took place at a busy street in Mysore.

As PfA Mysore (People for Animals) received several messages regarding this video, the police filed an FIR under Sections 34 and 429 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) and Section 11(1) of the PCA Act, 1960 (Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

Most of the cases of animal cruelty go unreported. "In cases like robbery or murder,stringent laws, penalties and punishments exist.It is unfortunate that there is an absence of rigorous laws and punishmentsfor cruelty to animals and this is because people hardly report these cases as most of them tend to ignore it. Unless people report cases related to animal cruelty, the government authorities will continue to be ignorant of and turn a blind eye towards such issues. The headquarters gets around 600-800 e-mails per day related to animal cruelty,"says Tarun Agarwal, an anti-cruelty officer, PfA.

Most people are not aware of the laws related to animal cruelty. "While a warning is hardly an effective method, booking a case and ensuring that it reaches the court for trial is perhaps the only way to tackle animal cruelty cases. There is a suggestion put forth by the Animal Welfare NGOs on amending the PCA Act 1960, providing for a penalty of Rs. 75,000or an imprisonment of one year which may go up to five years or both for gruesome cruelty to animals," he adds.

There are several issues which account for animal cruelty. "To place an animal's worth at Rs. 50 is extremely demeaning and any atrocious act can be committed against animals. Animal cruelty laws should be amended and the penalty must be increased. People are not aware of a lot of things that amounts to animal cruelty. This is because it is seen as something very common, it may be chaining up a dog to a gate where it lives its entire life and dies at a single spot. Another issue is that people are ready to pay just so that they could relocate these stray dogs elsewhere for various reasons. There are also people who as a matter of fact feed dogs with food mixed with rat poison," says a volunteer from PfA.

Many such incidents have been taking place in India. "An incident where explosives were set up for the wild boars in order to prevent them from eating the crops, occurred in HD Kote(a town in Mysore district) recently. However, the villagers witnessed that a cow which consumed these crops ended up dying instead," she adds. Another incident where Adi Narayana Naidu, grandson of former MP late DK Adikesavulu Naidu, was arrested in January 2022, for allegedly running his Audi over a street dog in Jayanagar. The CCTV footage went viral on social media which attracted bitter criticism. As a complaint was filed by a few animal lovers, the 23-year-old was arrested under sections 428 and 506 of the IPC and PCA Act, 1960.

Referring to the incident, an actor-turned-politician, DivyaSpandana (Ramya), tweeted, "Has the car been seized? Does he have a driver's license? Was he under the influence of drugs/alcohol? The complainant was threatened at the police station and the police didn't do anything-any action being taken? (sic)." "We had a few stray dogs near our house in Kerala, two-three of them were poisoned to death. We still aren't aware of the person behind this cruel act. Whoever caused this feared that their crops would be destroyed because of these dogs and hence they dealt with this in an inhumane manner. People think a thousand times before adopting a stray dog due to this," says AjanyaPrakasan, a social activist. Every time an animal abuser is left unpunished, we pave the way for more such crimes to occur. Every life should be valued. Just because these innocent creatures have no voice, it doesn't mean that they do not have rights or that one must deprive them of it.