Chhattisgarh Police Seeks Action on Illegal Cruelty and Killing of Animals for Sacrifice, Following PETA India Pleas
Following PETA India’s plea and a circular from the government body Animal Welfare Board of India, the office of the assistant inspector general of police, Chhattisgarh, has written to all senior police superintendents and police superintendents urging them to stop the illegal transport and killing of animals during religious festivals for animal sacrifice, take immediate action on all related complaints, and ensure compliance with all animal protection laws pertaining to animal sacrifice. Meanwhile, just last week, PETA India announced that following its appeal to prohibit the manufacture, sale, and use of gestation and farrowing crates in pig farming, the Directorate of Veterinary Services of Chhattisgarh demanded that action be taken in this regard.
The Supreme Court of India ordered that animals can be slaughtered only in officially licensed slaughterhouses and that municipal authorities must ensure compliance with such directions. Central government laws permit the slaughter of animals only in registered or licensed slaughterhouses equipped with species-specific stunning equipment. On 7 May 2014, the Supreme Court, in its landmark judgment in AWBI vs A. Nagaraja & Ors. also passed directions to state agencies, instrumentalities, and law enforcement authorities to uphold and enforce animal protection laws.
Laws related to transporting animals are also frequently violated. Common illegal practices include cramming animals into severely crowded trucks – which routinely causes them to suffocate and sustain broken bones – beating animals to keep them moving while marching them to the place of sacrifice, and slaughter by untrained individuals who slit animals’ throats with blunt knives in full view of other animals and often in front of traumatised children who want to protect them.
The circular cites Section 11(1)(e) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, which prohibits the confinement of any animal in a receptacle that fails to offer a reasonable opportunity for movement, such as gestation and farrowing crates. Confining animals in this way is illegal, a position confirmed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s National Research Centre on Pig. Chhattisgarh joins the ranks of Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh in addressing the use of both gestation and farrowing crates in pig rearing.
