Amendment Proposals to PCA Act

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Recently, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, has held a webinar with various stakeholders to give and seek suggestions on amendments to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.

About PCA Act

• It intends to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals.
• It defines animals and different forms of animal and provides for punishments for causing cruelty and suffering to them.
• It also provides a set of guidelines relating to experimentation on animals for scientific purposes and provisions for exhibition of the performing animals and offences against them.
• Under its Section 4, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) was established in 1962.
  • AWBI is a statutory advisory body on animal welfare laws and promotes animal welfare in the country.
  • Functions: Ensure that animal welfare laws in the country are diligently followed, provide grants to Animal Welfare Organizations and advise the Government on animal welfare issues.
  • The Board consists of 28 members and the term of office of members is for a period of 3 years.

Suggestions by the Department

• Addition of a stringent new section that addresses the killing of animals and “gruesome cruelty” towards them. Its proposed new section has the following provisions-
  • Section 11 (A): Gruesome cruelty or life-threatening cruelty against animals, for which the penalty is Rs. 50,000 per animal or the cost of the animal as determined by a jurisdictional veterinarian. This carries imprisonment of one year which may extend to three years or both.
  • Section 11 (B): Killing of an animal for which the penalty is Rs. 75,000 per animal or three times the cost of the animal as determined by the jurisdictional veterinarian, whichever is more, with imprisonment of three years which may extend to five years or both.
  • Section 11 (C): Exceptions, to section 11 (B) killing of an animal: i) accident ii) in defence of self or property (iii) by an act of god or war (iv) any other unforeseen circumstance outside the control of any person in general.
    • Section 11 (C) has been criticised for being ambiguous and could be used to create loopholes that an accused might slip through in a cruelty case.

• Hike the penalty for first-time offenders from the current “minimum of Rs. 10 to maximum of Rs. 50” to “not less than Rs. 750 extended up to Rs 3,750 per animal”.
  • The new penalty for first-time offences have been calculated as per the inflation rate.
  • There have been mixed reactions to this and some sought higher penalty between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 5,000.
• Under Section 12, dealing with the practice of doom dev (the process of blowing air into a cow’s vagina to induce production of more milk) or the injection of any substance to improve lactation, the draft proposes Rs. 75,000 as the penalty with imprisonment of three years which may be extended to five.
  • The current penalty is Rs. 1,000, two years in prison or both.
• Increase the limitation of prosecution under the PCA Act from three months to two years.
• New chapter for the formation of state animal welfare boards.

Suggestions by Stakeholder

• Make the sections for animal cruelty cognizable, as well as higher penalty and quantum of sentence.
• Provisions to ensure police action according to law, stating that in many cases, police refuse to register FIRs.
• On the issue of speciesism, they demanded that all animals must have the same rights, including cows and chickens.
• Need for a dog bite protocol (procedure of attending a person bitten by a dog) was also brought up, as well as protection for animal feeders.
• Some emphasised the importance of incorporating feedback from farmers, who use animals in traditional practices.

Source: IE