For the welfare of animals (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance 
Prelims level: Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act
Mains level: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability

Context:

• For a country that claims adherenceto ahimsa, India’s treatment of its animals betrays a moral failure.
• Over the past year alone, there have been reports of animals being subjected to sexual abuse, acid attacks, being thrown off rooftops, and being burnt alive.
• A major factor that enables such violence is an ineptlegal framework.
• The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 punishes the most serious forms of animal violence with a paltry fine of ₹50.
• We’ve had amendment bills, social media campaigns and petitions before the Supreme Court seeking stricter punishment for animal abuse, but to no avail.
• However, this is not the only issue plaguing the PCA Act. Several other aspects of this legislation need reconsideration if India is to develop a meaningful animal rights regime.

Classification of offences:

• Section 11 lists a series of offences, which vary from abandoning an animal to kicking it, mutilating it or killing it, and prescribes the same punishment for all these offences.
• Severe offences are treated on a par with less severe ones. This is a clear departure from established principles of penology.
• An amendment is required to grade the offences according to their severity, and specify punishments accordingly.
• Further, the more severe offences must be made cognizableand non-bailable.
• At present, a majority of the offences under the Act are non-cognisable, which means the police cannot investigate the offence or arrest the accused without the permission of a Magistrate.
• This facilitates police inaction, and ensures that most culprits of animal abuse go scot free.
• The PCA Act creates a plethoraof exceptions which significantly dilute the protections available to animals.
• Though Section 11 criminalises several forms of animal cruelty, sub-section (3) carves out exceptions for animal husbandry procedures such as dehorning, castration, nose-roping, and branding.
• The law does not provide any guidelines for these procedures. This allows individuals to resort to cruel methods.
• Many farmers remove horns using hot irons, knives or wires. Nose-roping involves piercing the animal’s nasal septa using a thick, blunt needle.
• Branding is traditionally done by applying a hot iron directly to the animal’s skin to imprint an identification mark on its body.
• These procedures cause tremendous physical and psychological pain to animals.

Viable alternatives:

• On August 10, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) India moved the Delhi High Court seeking the enactment of proper regulations for such animal husbandry procedures.
• The petition suggests mandating the use of anesthetics prior to castration, and the replacement of cruel practices such as nose-roping with face halters and branding with radio frequency identification.
• Further, as opposed to dehorning cattle, it recommended that farmers breed hornless cattle.
• The exceptions in favour of animal husbandry practices need to be reconsidered as there are viable alternatives that would prevent animals from undergoing such trauma.
• The PCA Act also suffers from ambiguityin definition.
• The law was enacted to “prevent the inflictionof unnecessary pain or suffering on animals”. However, this phrase is not defined anywhere in the Act.
• This is crucial because what constitutes “unnecessary” is entirely a matter of subjective assessment.
• In the absence of a clear statutory definition, we are leaving crucial questions of animal welfare to the subjective moral compass of judges.
• Given that the aim of law is to achieve a certain standard of objectivity, it is essential that the expression “unnecessary pain or suffering” be defined.

Conclusion:

• The Constitution requires all citizens to “have compassion for living creatures”. We must seek to protect the most vulnerable among us.
• If this promise of the Constitution is to hold any value, our animal welfare laws need an overhaul.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the COVAX Global Vaccines Facility, consider the following statements:
1. The COVAX Global Vaccines Facility is the vaccine pillar of the ACT-Accelerator, an initiative launched in April to speed up development of medicines to treat Covid-19 and make them available to people everywhere.
2. It is operated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; CEPI, and WHO, alongside multinational and developing country vaccine manufacturers.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C

Mains Questions:

Q.1)Describe the key provision under prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act.