Animal Cruelty: The Underrated Crime

  •   Thu, Mar 04 2021
  •   By Rashmi Mallya

March 4, 2021

Introduction

The ancient texts of Isha Upanishads clearly envisages that "The Universe along with its creatures belongs to the land. No creature is superior to any other, human beings should not be above nature. Let no species encroach over the rights and privileges of other species". However, with the tremendous growth in commercialisation on a large scale, men have turned hostile to the nature's creation, which has pushed to an ecological imbalance, the restoring of which lies in our hands.

Indian Constitution under Article 48-A clearly expounds that "The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forest and wildlife of the country". The inference drawn from the Article 48A is that it poses an obligation on the State to maintain an orderly balance in the environment even though it's in the nature of a directive and one cannot enforce it through the court of law as a matter of fundamental right. However, Article 21 of the Indian Constitution which guarantees "Right to Life" which extends to every living creature and this makes Article 48-A, a mandate in order to make Article 21 enforceable.


Representational image

In the past few decades, the State and the people have miserably failed to respect the existence of the living creatures by way of cruel and barbaric acts. This leads to forming of a hypothesis “Animal cruelty is the most under-rated crime in the Indian context”. The hypothesis can be affirmed by analysing cases that are devoid of humanity.

Cruelty in its varied forms

The pregnant elephant from Kerala, a pregnant cow from Himachal Pradesh and Jackal from Tamil Nadu, in the nature of bait they are fed with explosives which is clear violation of their 'Right to life' the importance of which was emphasised in Animal Welfare Board of India V. Nagaraja and Others.

Elaborating on the recent barbaric act of the killing of pregnant elephant in the State of Kerala during the month of 2020 triggered the conscious of millions all around the world. The magnificent creature was fed with a pineapple stuffed with explosives. The elephant was found in the river with an injured oral cavity. It is to be noted that the elephant is protected wildlife animal listed at item no: 123 in the name of 'Indian Elephant' (Elephas Maximus) in Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1977 and as such killing thereof as also trade in its any of the articles, organs is a punishable offence and therefore such an act can cause serious imbalance in the bio-diversity. A petition was filed by a public spirited individual demanding for an investigation into the crime, disappointing that there has been no updates on the case.

It doesn't stop at this, in the month of January 22, 2020, a group of men threw a burning cloth on the elephant's ears causing the helpless creature, serious injury and before the authorities could provide the treatment the tusker met with a fatal death. The accused were arrested without much delay. This incident occurred in State of Tamil Nadu which was a home for 10% of the elephant population in India. An RTI report revealed that there has been over 500 elephant deaths in the State of Tamil Nadu since 2015, this is nothing but a controversial reality.

In Navin M Raheja V. Union of India and Others, the Supreme Court expressed its concern about the distressing state of affairs insofar as welfare of animals, both in the reserved forests and in the zoos, in particular, the issue arising out of death of tigers at 'Nandan Kanan', Bhubaneswar. The report about a ghastly act in which a tiger was skinned alive at one of the zoos in Andhra Pradesh was a matter of grave concern to the court. The tiger in captivity received no protection from those who had undertaken to keep them in captivity, and look after their welfare. The Supreme Court directed the Chairperson or the Director, Central Zoo Authority, whoever heads the Authority, to appear before the court in person and explain as to what steps are being taken for preserving tiger population, both in the reserved forests as also in the zoos, and to plan on record details of any steps taken for the welfare of tiger population.

It doesn't stop at this in the month of March 2018, a video triggered the conscience of people, in which a dog was beaten to death by three men and was then thrown in the bush. This incident occurred in the State of Gujarat. Just when we are trying to understand the motive behind these horrific incidents, there is a report in the month of July 2018, about a pregnant goat going missing and was later found dead by the owner. The accused had wrongfully taken the goat from the owner without his notice and abused it in a deserted place.

Conclusion

After a brief analysis of the cruelty acts we now have an answer in affirmative for the hypothesis, also it brings down to three essential questions:

1. What is the reason for man-animal conflict?
2. Who is responsible? What makes it an under-rated crime?
3. How can the conflict be resolved?

The answer for the first question has everything to do with psychology of humans that is I believe the sense of superiority has been widely mistaken for lack of empathy and awareness. So its quiet simple if the erred belief is removed there would be a drastic change in attitude of every human towards the voiceless creatures.

We now come to the second question for which again the answer is Humans with wrong ideologies and lack of consciousness. It leads to an inference that the authorities at various level could be held responsible too. The emphasis here is on the lack of seriousness while dealing with the cases, it includes actions of administerial wing, the Judiciary and the Legislature.

Finally, the answer for the third question, the conflict can definitely be addressed through joint redressal that is collaboration at the administrative level, judicial level and at legislative level. My article will give a gist on how to address from legislative point of view as it's high time we revisit the legislations dealing with animal protection, clearly the current penal provisions are not deterrent enough, and there is no accountability and lack of transparency.

Citing few provisions from the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Act, 1960 and Indian Penal Code:

1. Section 11 of Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Act, 1960 states "He shall be punishable, in the case of first offence, with fine which shall not be less than 25 rupees but which may extend to 100 rupees or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with both.”
2. Section 429 of IPC read as “Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc, of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees-Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless, any elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow thereof or any other animal of the value of 50 rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine or both.”

Collective reading of both these provisions leads to a conclusion that the fine mentioned in both the provisions is highly insufficient to deter humans from committing heinous crimes. The term ‘Mischief’ in Section 429 creates a wrong impression on the magnitude of the offence and hence the section has to be redefined altogether, as it was written much before we attained independence, where the British believed it to be a crime of not heinous nature.

 

 

 

 

 
By Rashmi Mallya
Rashmi Mallya is a student of SDM Law College, Mangaluru. She is also a para-legal volunteer for District Legal Services Authority. Rashmi aspires to specialise in Environmental law, since it’s not the buildings which needs to be protected but the very source of life.
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Comment on this article

  • Mangalurian, Mangaluru

    Sat, Mar 06 2021

    Thank you for your article, Ms Mallya. A great subject. It is terribly sad that the nature has not provided animals with an effective way of communicating with humans. Most animals killed in some countries for food go through incredible pain and torture. The developed countries have fortunately given some thought to slaughtering animals humanely. One way to reduce some cruelty is to encourage everyone around us to go vegan. Unfortunately even animal milk production is not ethical.

  • Shivashankar Bhat, Kulai

    Thu, Mar 04 2021

    This is one of the best article .. Neatly written.. First and foremost the victims of such cruelity is voiceless..but heartfull And accused are voice full but heartless... There lack of awareness .... And also lack of punishment According to me ... Such culprits must be treated in the same way how they treat animals If such law enforces then no one dare to think wrong about animals


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