The Hindu : Cruelty to animals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 14, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Cruelty to animals

by G. Anand

PREVENTING CRUELTY to animals may not be high on the agenda of the city police, but a case registered at the Museum Police Station by the owner of a pet cat has got the police foxed.

The mother of an eighth standard student registered a complaint at the police station alleging that her daughter's pet cat was killed and buried in the premises of their apartment complex at Kowdiar without the family being informed.

The police have registered a case under section 429 of Indian Penal Code. The section relates to causing mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal. The law carries a punishment of imprisonment up to five years or fine or both.

On the basis of the complaint, the police exhumed the body of the cat from the playground of the complex and an autopsy was conducted at the veterinary hospital run by the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

The viscera of the cat has been sent for detailed forensic examination to determine the cause of the animal's death, which the police are still not sure about. But the family was told that the pet could have died due to some injury sustained in a road accident.

However, the complainant believes that the cat could have been poisoned or clubbed to death. It was reportedly found dead in the garage area of the apartment complex by a domestic help who buried it with the help of some attendants.

When contacted, the complainant said the cat, which was discovered by the family as a stray kitten, had been registered as a pet animal under her daughter's name at the SPCA and sported a collar. "My daughter is yet to get over the loss of her pet. I feel that an injustice has been done and that is why I approached the police,'' the complainant said.

The police, who were bemused by her complaint initially, took cognisance of it only when they found that she was dead serious. A woman constable was there with the doctors when the autopsy was conducted on the cat's body.

The secretary, People For Animals (PFA), Leela Latheef, says there is a felt need to sensitise the police on animal rights violations that can be charged under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Recently, the PFA had alerted the Forest Department officials of an injured elephant being made to work at a timber depot in Kalyikkavila on the outskirts of the city. The elephant succumbed to its injuries later.

The PFA says that cattle, pet animals and stray dogs continue to be victims of cruelty. Animals and birds put up for sale in pet shops endure crammed conditions in small wired cages which are usually left in the open.

The cattle brought into the city for slaughter from neighbouring Tamil Nadu are seen tied in twos or fours by their horns for easy herding. They are rarely given rest, water or food and are beaten mercilessly all the way to slaughter houses where they are usually clubbed to death.

Trucks crammed with cattle coming into the city are a common sight. Though the rules specify that only four heads of cattle should be loaded in a truck, nearly a dozen of the animals are crammed into lorries and transported to unlicensed slaughter houses.

One common method of transporting poultry is to tie the legs together and transport them upside down on the handles of bicycles and two-wheelers. Mutilated stray dogs and cats are a common sight on city roads. The PFA has rescued several pets abandoned by owners after they were found to be suffering from some illness.

Animal rights activists point out that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, lacks teeth as offenders mostly got away with a fine. The Kerala Police Act also lacks stringent provisions to act decisively when it comes to offences against animals.

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