The Indian government has prepared a draft to amend the existing Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, proposing penalty upto Rs75000 or three times the cost of the animal with jail term up to five years, or both, if the act of an individual or organization leads to an animal’s death, reports the Times of India.
The draft has proposed offences in three categories- minor injury, major injury leading to permanent disability, and death to an animal due to cruel practice- and prescribed different penalties ranging from Rs750 to Rs75000 and jail term up to five years for different crimes, the TOI report furthered.
According to the existing law, which has been in place for 60 years, any act of cruelty such as beating, kicking, torturing, starving, overriding, overloading, and mutilating an animal can attract a penalty between Rs10 to Rs50. It does not have different categories of offences for cruelty, and the animal in the Act is defined as any living being other than a human being.
Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying Giriraj Singh, in a written response to a Parliament question in Rajya Sabha, said on Friday: “The need for amending the PCA, 1960, by introducing more stringent penalties has been recognized by the government. The draft amendment worked out includes monetary penalties and punishment provisions.”
Singh did not, however, provide details, including monetary punishment and quantum of punishment.
Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrsekhar raised the question regarding the need to amend the current act, referring to a case in Kerala where an elephant was suspected to have consumed a pineapple stuffed with powerful firecrackers, which later exploded in its mouth and led to the animal’s death.
Sources further added the draft amendment also provides for making cruelty against animals a cognizable offence and making the state animal welfare board a statutory body.
“It's a work in progress. The draft will be put out in the public domain, seeking comments from stakeholders, including the general public and experts. It will be finalized only after analyzing the comments,” quoted an official.
In response to a different question, the government told the parliament that there are currently a total of 316 cases relating to animal cruelty which are pending in various courts across the country; 64 of such cases were pending in the Supreme Court while 38 were pending in Delhi High Court, it reiterated.
Among states/UTs, the highest number of cases was Tamil Nadu (52) followed by Maharashtra (43), Kerala (15), Karnataka(14),Telangana (13), and Rajasthan (12). Of the 316 cases pertaining to animal cruelty, a total of 199 cases were pending for more than five years, the TOI report added.
