By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELHI: BJD Lok Sabha MP from Odisha’s Kendrapara, Anubhav Mohanty has welcomed the move of the Union Animal Husbandry,Dairying and Forest Environment Ministries to bring stringent Law to check ‘Cruelty to Animals’. The move of the Union Government came following a writ petition filed by BJD Lok Sabha MP from Kendrapara, Mohanty in Supreme Court, and a letter written by MP Mohanty along with several other MPs to Union Ministers on this issue, sources said on Monday.
“Happy to see the developments happening on this. I believe it’s just not about the fine but the seriousness by which this issue is being dealt. Human-Animal conflicts need to end at the earliest. Hope, the new measures & laws will make things better,” BJD MP Mohanty tweeted.
“As true Indians, like all of you, I firmly believe in the Constitution of India. So I cannot sit silently when DPSP, Article 14 & Article 21, which clearly call for the protection of all life forms, are violated in the country. I hope this initiative will be supported by you all.Man-Animal conflict can’t be ignored. We can’t allow farmers to lose their produce to animals. At the same time, we also can’t categorize wild animals as “vermins” & sanction the mindless killing of innocent animals who are forced into the fields for food only due to loss of habitat,” Mohanty said in another tweet quoting media reports about Union Government’s proposed move to bring more stringent laws to check cruelty to animals.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA), 1960 currently stipulates a penalty between Rs 10 and Rs 50 for any act of cruelty against animals, including beating, kicking, torturing, starving and mutilating the animal. Under the 60-year-old law, none of these actions amounting to animal cruelty, as recognised under Section 11(1) of the PCA, are cognisable except organising fights and shooting matches that use animals.
In July last week this year, acting a writ petition(Civil-673/2020) of BJD MP Mohanty, Supreme Court had sought replies from Union Ministries and concerned States like Bihar and Himachal Pradesh.
In his petition, the BJD MP from Kendrapara , Mohanty had advocated that many State Governments for example in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have financially incentivised the killing of wild animals such as Nilgai, Rhesus Macaque and Wild Boar respectively. Unfortunately, a popular way of getting rewarded by the State Governments is by planting bombs and poisons in the forests, he states.
Mohanty’s petition to SC brings was to attention recent report of the death of several animals and a child after use of heinous practices such snares, wire traps, explosives, bomb baits, poison baits etc were reported and documented to destroy wild animals. He reiterates the protection rendered to animals under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 even though they may be declared as vermin under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, still renders true. The petition seeks for proactive, constructive and a scientific way forward to mitigate human-wildlife conflict instead of encouraging citizens of the country to kills such wild animals.
