Paying Rs 75000 as Fine for 'Animal Cruelty' May Soon be Reality as Govt Mulls Stricter Law

New Delhi: The BJP led central government has prepared a draft to amend the 60-year-old Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Under the proposed amendment, the penalty could go up to Rs 75,000 or three times the cost of the animal with a jail term up to five years or both if an act of an individual or an organization leads to an animal's death.

The draft has proposed felonies 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 Rs 750 to Rs 75,000 and jail term up to five years for different crimes.

The current law orders a penalty between Rs 10 and Rs 50 for any act of cruelty such as beating, kicking, torturing, starving, overloading, overriding and mutilating an animal. It also has no provisions for different categories of offences for cruelty and abuse.

The animal in the Act is defined as any living creature other than a human being.

On Friday, Minister of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying Giriraj Singh, in a written response to a Parliament question in Rajya Sabha said, "The need for amending the PCA, 1960, by introducing more stringent penalties has been recognised by the government. The draft amendment worked out includes increasing monetary penalties and punishment provisions."

The question was asked by Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar while referring to the case from last year in Kerala where an elephant was suspected to have eaten fruits laden with powerful firecrackers which exploded in its mouth, causing the elephant's death.

Giriraj Singh however, did not give details, including monetary penalties and quantum of punishment.

The draft amendment also reportedly has provisions for making offences of cruelty against animals cognisable and making state animal welfare board a statutory body.

An official informed that the draft will be made public for seeking feedback from the general public and experts.

The government, while responding to a different Parliament question, informed the Upper House that there are 316 current cases relating to cruelty to animals, all of which are pending in various courts across the country. Sixty-four such cases were pending in the Supreme Court while 38 were pending in Delhi High Court.

The highest number of cases of animal abuse was in Tamil Nadu with 52, followed by Maharashtra with 43, Kerala with 15, Karnataka with 14, Telangana with 13 and Rajasthan with 12. Further, out of the 316 pending animal cruelty cases, 199 cases have been pending for more than five years.

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