Activists and animal lovers are expecting a positive response to a letter submitted recently by the Uttarakhand State Animal Welfare Board (UAWB) to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change recommending amendment to the provisions of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 and an increase in the now obsolete penalties to make it an effective deterrent for animal abusers.
The amendment is proposed in the wake of public uproar over the recent incident at a political protest rally during the Vidhan Sabha session which ended up in the amputation of police horse Shaktiman’s limb fractured during the horse’s deployment for government work.
The UAWB nodal officer Ashutosh Joshi stated, “amendment in the penalty provisions under PCA Act, 1960 and inclusion of compounding provisions under PCA Act for the non-cognisable offences to avoid unnecessary wastage of time and resources in court trials and ensure quick and immediate punishment of the culprits has become the need of the hour. We are hopeful that the MoEFCC shall soon take appropriate decision on this issue.”
Humane Society International (HSA) India managing director NG Jayasimha said, “We are seeing an unprecedented rise in animal abuse cases in India due to lack of rigorous punishment. Cruel incidents like these highlight the need to revamp the animal laws existent in our country. It is high time that the Government takes cognisance of this serious issue and does everything in its power to make the PCA Act robust and more effective.”
The letter addressed to the MoEFCC Animal Welfare division director by UAWB secretary Kamal Mehrotra points out that penalty provisions under most of the provisions of the PCA Act are almost negligible, which range between `25 and `100. “These provisions have never been amended since 1960. Thus rather than having deterrent effect, these provisions are provoking at present. Since there are no compounding provisions thus in each case, the cases are to be referred to courts which leads to remarkable investment of time, energy and resources just to recover negligible monitory penalties of `25 to `100,” states the letter.
Animal activists point out that recent animal cruelty incidents including the stabbing of at least three stray dogs and murder of one puppy by a man near the Green Park Metro station in Delhi and a woman dashing eight puppies to death in Bengaluru, bring to fore the pressing need to introduce stringent laws to monitor and rein in human atrocities on animals.
Following these incidents, animal welfare organisations, advocates and the general public, in solidarity have supported the call for amendment in the PCA Act. They state, “India has some of the finest provisions to safeguard the interest of animals in the world but the PCA Act of 1960 has proved to be both ineffective and inefficient in tackling animal abuse cases. HIS, India along with People for Animals is leading the effort in petitioning the prime minister and the speaker of lok Sabha to bring about an increase in the penalties with a ‘Shaktiman Act’,” add the activists.