Bruno: Just another victim of human cruelty
What is Animal cruelty?
Acts of violence perpetrated against helpless animals are considered animal cruelty. It is a punishable offense under the prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1950.
Why it is in News?
On June 28, A black Labrador named Bruno was beaten death by three people in Thiruvananthapuram. Later on Thursday, Kerala high court has initiated Suo motto proceeding against Sunil, a boat owner, and two other people for such brutal killing. The court renamed the case Re: Bruno as an attempt to offer a tribute to the dog that got succumb to the act of animal cruelty in the most disturbed manner. The reason behind this inhuman act was a spat between the owner and the accused. The bench issued a slew of guidelines to alleviate the misery of animals and further explained the purpose behind this endeavor to alert state executives and remind them of their constitutional and statutory obligation.
OTHER RELATED FACTS
According to the report published by the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organization (FIAPO) and All Creatures Great and Small(ACGS), almost 5 lakh animals have been hurt, maimed and killed, and even raped between 2010 and 2020. This report on violence against animals in India mentioned that 1,000 assault cases have been recorded against the animal, 82 cases were of sexual abuses 266 cases of cold-blooded murder, and 400+ cases of violent attack against animals by beating, throwing acid, or boiling water torturing, maiming a part of the body, kicking attacking with a knife or a blunt object. The year 2019 has recorded the highest number of cases of crime against animals(700 cases). Beacuse they are animals, people tend to underplay the violence by calling it cruelty. But it’s more than cruelty. its physical abuse; Its Rape; its murder. Severe crimes against animals must be treated as a felony- VardaMehrotra executive director, FIAPO. It is high time that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA), 1960, was updated to reflect the times. The fines of `50 and `100, imposed through this Act won’t cause the smallest dent in anyone’s pocket today. If IPC Sections 428 and 429, which makes it an offense to maim or kill an animal, of monetary value above `10, are brought into a case, then though it is bailable, it stipulates imprisonment of 2 to 5 years. But even our police are not fully aware of the laws when it comes to animal rights, and we need our leaders to make stronger amendments to the PCA. It is in our Constitution under Article 51(A), that we must show compassion for living creatures. On the flip side, people will say that strays are a problem. This is something the administration has to take preventive measures for. There was an effective animal birth control project in place in 2017 in Kochi, but that has stopped. It needs to be a continuous process. We also need to solve our waste disposal problems, which attract strays. If we get rid of dogs, the waste will still attract rodents and even snakes, and cause the spread of disease. So we need to tackle waste management. And basically, we need to teach children to be mindful and compassionate to creatures.
CONCLUSION
We need more proposals, ideas, awareness campaigns, schemes, and an amendment to the prevention of cruelty to Animals Act 1960[POCA]. The Union Government should pass the amendment which proposes to increase fines against cruelty from 150 to 75000 or three times the cost of the animal along with rigorous imprisonment of five years. These changes can at least help to address the problem of human cruelty and help in making sure it doesn’t happen again.
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