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A history of violence: SC to hear Bhushan PIL over toothless animal cruelty laws

The law should begin looking at animal abuse in the same way as human abuse
The law should begin looking at animal abuse in the same way as human abuse

Prashant Bhushan, acting for the NGO Angel Trust, has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court that more stringent punishments should be levied against those convicted of cruelty against animals, particularly in the pet shops industry.

The bench of justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh issued notice to the environment ministry. Bhushan was assisted by advocate Siddhartha K Garg.

According to the petition:

The reason for such a vacuum is that the main legislation for animal protection - The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (PCA) - has not been amended since 1960 to keep up with the times and even today the only punishment for dastardly acts is mere Rs 50 fine and no jail term.

The petition also drew a link between violence against humans, including notorious serial killers, and animal cruelty.

It also includes a chronology

1860

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 is enacted to cover allsubstantive aspects of criminal law,on therecommendations of first Law Commission of Indiaestablished in 1834, under the Chairmanship ofThomas Babington Macaulay, under the Governmentof India Act 1833.

1960

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 isenacted to prevent the infliction of unnecessary painor suffering on animals.

05.10. 2013

Gregory Berns, Professor of Neuroeconomics atEmory University, USA and the author of “How DogsLove Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted DogDecode the Canine Brain, writes in New York Timesabout his studies on animals using F-MRI, to showhow animals have the same emotions as humans andfeel pain, love and anger as the rest of us.

07.05.2014

The Supreme Court of India passes a milestonejudgment in the matter titled “Animal WelfareBoard of India vs. A Nagaraja & Ors. (Supra)banning the bulls and bullocks in exhibitions, forexample, Jallikattu, bullock cart racing, andemphasized the need to urgently amend the PCA Actand expanding the scope of Article 21 to includeanimals as well.

28.08.2015

The Law Commission in its Report No. 261 on the“Need to Regulate Pet Shops and Dog and AquariumFish Breeding” to the Union Minister of Law andJustice, notes the inhumane abuse and despicableexploitation in the pet shops industry andrecommends that the AWBI (Animal Welfare Board ofIndia) three sets of rules regarding pet shops (“PetShop Rules, 2010”), dog breeding (“Dog Breeding,Marketing and Sale Rules, 2010”), and aquarium fishbreeding (“Aquarium Fish Breeding and MarketingRules”), lying pending since 2010, with the AnimalWelfare Division of the Ministry of Environment,Forests and Climate Change (“MoEF”) for scrutiny be“be notified and implemented at the earliest.”

01.0.2016

The FBI re-categorizes acts of animal cruelty andputs it in the same table as other serious offences likearson, burglary, assault, and homicide. It also trackssuch animal abuses cases, so that it locate suchabusers before they escalate and commit crimes onwomen and children.

12.07.2015

A man tortures and beats a stray dog in Delhi andthen posts the video on Facebook.

29.01.2016

A stray dog is tied up to a tree and beaten mercilesslywith Lathis by residents of a Cooperative GroupHousing Society in Sector 48 Chandigarh.

20.03.2016

A man stabs three stray dogs and a puppy to deathoutside Green Park Metro Station in South Delhi.

21.03.2016

A Bengaluru woman thrashes 8 puppies to death toteach dog a lesson

26.03.2016

A man pours acid on 5 new-born puppies for barkingat him

07.04.2016

A police man beats a stray dog till it's eye pops out inAndheri, Mumbai

21.04.2016

Police horse Shaktimaan dies after getting her legcrushed allegedly due to being beaten up by a stickand then later on having her leg amputated

__.04.2016

Hence, the present writ petition.

Writ petition challenges lax animal rights laws

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