ANIMAL LAWS AND RIGHTS IN INDIA

(Name – Ishita Singhaniya)

Any kind of brutality against animals is not new in our country, those voiceless animals have had
always been the victim of cruelty by some people. It’s not only India where brutality against
animals takes place there are other counties too where we can see such crimes happening.
However, one point that cannot be ignored is many people in the world equally love and care for
animals and have a special place in their heart for them but it’s very important to talk and punish
those heartless people who try to find their happiness in killing or torturing the voiceless
creature. A report says that on an average more than 115 million animals around the world are
killed in laboratories for biology lessons, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and
chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing each year. Animals play a vital role in any research
work where experiments on them help the scientist to check how much their thesis are safe for
humans and to find better ways to understand the course of human diseases. In this the biggest
question arises is using animals in the experiments is, how much it is judicious to use an animal
for the research work? In India, “experimentation on animals is covered under the provisions of
‘prevention of cruelty to animal act (PCA act), 1960’ followed by the amendment act of 1998
and 2001. This act was implemented through a committee constituted by the central government
called ‘committee for control and supervision of experiments on animals (CPCSEA). The main
objective of the committee is to ensure the judicious use of animals in research” 1. But the
problem does not end hear despite having a regulatory body as a watchdog for the judicious use
of animals in research work, animals are being used for making profits and personal benefits by
the companies, industries, universities, and media. In one of such cases of experiments in JNU it
was found that “ one researcher in the university killed a rat a day for ten consecutive years only
to prove that when rats were asleep, they were not awake and for this he used to get a huge salary
along with rent-free accommodation as a scientist of the university”2.
A well-known quote of Mahatma Gandhiji, “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can
be judged by the way its animals are treated”, ranking the country on that bases will be a tough
task because torturing and killing of an animal in a brutal manner take place in the religious
country like India, where a cow is treated as a holy mother and is one of the most worshiped
animals of Hindu, a monkey is believed to be the form of god Hanuman, a snake is portrayed as
an entity of strength and the king cobra is referred as Nagas which was used as an ornament
carried around the neck of Lord Shiva, Hindu also celebrates the festival of snakes popularly
known as Nag Panchami, the national symbol of India the royal Bengal tiger was the vehicle of
Maa Durga a symbol of strength and grace is also worshiped by Hindus, the elephant is
considered as the form of Lord Ganesh and is worshiped and treated as the symbol of wisdom,
loyalty, stability, and sensitivity.

1
Current status of animal’s experimentation in India, national center for laboratory animal sciences. Available at -
http://www.hwassociation.org/conf/HWC-2015/papers/41ID_HWC2015.pdf
2
The alarming rise of animals testing and experimentation industry, New Delhi times, may 14, 2018. Available at –
Lexis advance India research.

1
Recently one of the heart-breaking cases of an elephant killing took place in Kerala where a 15-
year-old pregnant elephant consumed a pineapple filled with powerful firecrackers that exploded
in her mouth in the silent valley forest, resulted in the death of the elephant along with her
unborn child. Indeed, this act of inhumanity was hearty-rending but more than this the heart-
rending fact was many people were trying to give this incident a communal color rather than
aiming to give justice to the elephant and punishment to the accused. This shows a clear picture
of where humanity stands and how much people are concern about what is right and wrong, fair,
and unfair.
Laws that protect animals in India
Prevention of cruelty to animal act, 1960 and breeding of and experiments on animals (control
and supervision) rules of 1980,2001, and 2006 –
as discussed above this act came into consideration intending to have judicious use of animals.
under this provision, the concerned establishments are required to get themselves registered with
CPCSEA before commencing the research, breeding, and trading of animals.
“The prevention of cruelty to animals (slaughterhouse) rules, 2001 prohibits the slaughter of
house in recognized or licensed houses by the concerned authority, this act defines
slaughterhouse wherein 10 0r ore animals are slaughtered per day and is duly licensed or
recognized under a central government, also it states that no owner or occupier of a
slaughterhouse shall engage a person for slaughtering animals unless he possesses a valid license
for the same. There are many other rules incorporated under this amendment which shall be
followed if such activities take place3”.
“The new amendment 0f 2006 contains rules for breeding and experiments on animals and
powers of the institutional animal ethical committee (IAEC) to permit small animals for the
respective experiments. The main objective of IAEC is to keep check whether all the
experiments being performed in the country with proper care and humanity or not and monitor
the recovery of animals injured within the course of experiments.
Under this act, the experiments on larger animals are avoided when it is possible to achieve the
same result by experiment upon small laboratory animals, for experiments on large animals the
case is required to be forwarded to CPCSEA in a prescribed manner under the recommendation
of IAEC.
This act contains all the required guidelines on the regulations of scientific experiments on
animals. This includes guidelines for use of animals on laboratory research, agriculture research,
situations where euthanizing of animal is permissible, aftercare and rehabilitation of animals
after use in scientific experiments, etc.”4.
3
NOTIFICATION, NEW DELHI, 26th march, 2001. Available at -
http://jkspcb.nic.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/file/Slaughter%20houses/Slaughter%20houses%20Rules,
%202001.pdf
4
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and Breeding of and Experiments on Animals (Control & Supervision)
Rules of 1998, 2001 and 2006, 7th January 2011. Available at -
http://cpcsea.nic.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/file/SOP_CPCSEA_inner_page.pdf

2
The wildlife protection act, 1972
“This act was framed because of the falling percentage of wildlife in India. As already some
species had extinct in the country and some species are were entourage with the danger of being
extinct, for example, the national symbol of India, tiger. The fall in the percentage of the
existence of tiger in the country was so high that the government was in threat of losing one of
these beautiful species and the national symbol of the nation in the coming few years. Under this
act state under the state list of the seventh schedule of the country, were given the authority to
make laws for the protection of animals and birds of the country. Under this act ‘the word animal
includes amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles and their young, and also includes in the cases
of birds and reptiles, their eggs’. This act was regulated with strict rules for the hunting of
animals and birds, laid down the procedure for declaring areas as sanctuaries, national parks,
etc., regulated the possession, acquisition or transfer, or trade-in wild animals, and provided
penalties for contravention of the act.
Under wildlife protection (amendment) act, 2002 there was also the constitution of ‘National
board for wildlife and the state board for wildlife’, here the national board along with other
duties were having the major duty of promoting the conversation and development of wildlife
and forests by such measures they think fit, and state board was having the duty to advise state
government in selection and management of areas to be declared as protected areas, in the
formulation of policies, and any other matter connected with the protection of wildlife”5.
The prevention and control of infectious and contagious diseases in animals act, 2009 –
“This act was established with the main aim of prevention of outbreak or spreading of such
diseases which may affect animals, from one state to another and for meeting international
obligations of India for facilitating import and export of animals and animals’ product and for
matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”6.
Along with all the important rules and acts discussed above, there are many other rules and acts
like – the prevention of cruelty to animals (regulation of livestock markets) rules, 2017, the
prevention of cruelty to animals (care and maintenance of case property animals) rules,2017, the
prevention of cruelty to animals (pet shops) rules, 2018, the animals birth control (dogs) rules,
2001, the performing animals' rules, 1973, the prevention of cruelty (capture of animals)
rules,1972, etc.
Despite having all this act and rules enforce brutality against animals is still a serious concern,
maybe the problem lies with the implementation of such laws if not then maybe the laws which
are already enforced are required to be stricter and more rigorous or maybe there is a lack of
awareness among such people about the animal, related laws and rights, as there is no downfall
in the cases of brutality against animals in the country there is a rise in such cases year after year.

5
THE EILD LIFE PROTECTION ACT, 1972. Available at - http://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1972-53_0.pdf
6
PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS AND CONTAGIOUS DISEASES IN ANIMALS ACT, 2009, universal bare
acts available at – Lexis advance India research.

3
A report on NGO in Mumbai shows approx. 19,208 cases of animal cruelty between 2011-12 to
2016-17, had taken place in this five year with not a single arrest. After the upsetting case of
elephant murder in Kerala, another heart-breaking case of death of another elephant, in the same
manner, had taken place, in which her jaws were smashed by the firecrackers resulting in her
death. Again, one of the cases of brutality had taken place on 7th June 2020 in Gorchuk in
Guwahati where a leopard was mercilessly lynched to death by a group of people. The biggest
reason we keep hearing all such cases often is the lack of fear among the people for the law.
There the government needs to come up with some rigorous provisions and shall have effective
implementation of it for achieving a downfall on cases of brutality and torture against animals.
It's also the responsibility of the citizen to respects and follow the provisions of the
administrative authority and shall show some sympathy and mercy towards those voiceless
creatures.