Against Animal Cruelty

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Beware! RWAs spreading fake news on animals spreading Coronavirus can now be booked under violation of Disaster Management Act

Cooperative Housing Societies(CHS) and Resident Welfare Associations(RWA) spreading fake news saying that dogs and cats can cause COVID is a violation of the Disaster Management Act 2005.

Strict action will be taken against such misinformation by the Government of India.

Please take note and share with societies who are spreading misinformation about animals spreading #COVID19.

Details of how to and whom to complain are shared in the images below.

Animals don’t spread or get #coronavirus. We humans do.

Don’t be a #COVIDIOT. Don’t spread misinformation, it’s is not only irresponsible but also a criminal offence.

Please do file a formal complaint if a CHS/RWA or member of such CHS/RWA does not desist from spreading false information even after your warning and sharing facts.

Globally, over 17 lakh people have been infected with COVID-19, whereas, there have been only 4 isolated and rare cases of animals that have tested positive for COVID. Experts suggest that these animals got it from their positive pet parents with whom these animals were living.

NO cases in India whatsoever, and NO evidence GLOBALLY to prove that animals spread it. Instead, there is more than enough evidence to prove that humans spread the virus to other fellow humans and that is precisely why we are in a lockdown, animals are not.

So, if at all anyone has to be scared, it’s the animals who should be scared of us and not the other way round.

You are way more safe with an animal than with an unknown human.

Please share widely!

*Text Credit: Meet Ashar

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Veterinary services must go on, animals can’t and shouldn’t suffer during COVID-19, PM Modi & Central Govt tells states

Please carry printouts of the PM’s advisory to the States about street animal welfare, and the letter from the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Upamanyu Basu, to show the authorities if they stop you from feeding.

Please also keep an eye out for animals that may be suffering inside closed pet shops and inform the authorities immediately.

Sharing the same below for ready reference:

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News Article in ‘The Print’ dated 23rd March by Journalist Sanya Dhingra (Please scroll below for relevant images, that you can download, print and keep handy, while you feed/look after animals in need and street animals in general. This is the time to show humanity, kindness and compassion to all living beings)

The Narendra Modi government has told all states to ensure that medical help for animals is treated as an essential service, which does not get suspended during COVID-19 lockdowns across the country.

While several states announced lockdowns Sunday in a bid to arrest the spread of the deadly disease in India, they did not include veterinary services in the list of essential services that would be exempt under it.

In a letter addressed to all chief secretaries dated 23rd March, the Centre said, “It is requested that veterinary hospitals and dispensaries in the state, including private veterinary clinics, veterinary pathologies, animal shelters etc. function in the normal course and the veterinary services be considered in the list of ‘Essential Services’.”

The letter, written by the joint secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Upamanyu Basu said, “It is necessary to ensure continuous emergency services in the animal husbandry and veterinary sector, especially in emergent animal health issues situations.

“These May include but are not restricted to, emergency services like disease diagnosis and treatment, monitoring of any emergency livestock and poultry diseases, immediate disease reporting, etc.”

However, the government has urged veterinarians and other related officials to ensure strict personal hygiene and avoid public gatherings.

‘Animals and birds should not suffer during lockdown’

On the same day, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) wrote another letter to all states emphasising that all law enforcement agencies ensure that animals and birds do not suffer due to hunger during the lockdown due to COVID-19.

Please carry printouts of the PM’s advisory to the States about street animal welfare, and the letter from the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Upamanyu Basu, to show the authorities if they stop you from feeding. Please also keep an eye out for animals that may be suffering inside closed pet shops and inform the authorities immediately.

“This is a valuable service consistently provided by compassionate individuals and the absence of it may cause a large number of animals and birds to suffer and die and carcasses of the dead animals and birds may further spread different diseases amongst community which will be difficult to control,” Dr O.P. Chaudhary, Director of the AWBI has written.

Meanwhile Delhi Government has issued the following order as well.

“The situation is quite alarming,” BJP MP Maneka Gandhi said. “In some places, food is being stopped…No animal grains and chara is being allowed to come to Haryana from UP. Even pedigree from Hyderabad is being stopped by Mumbai,” she said.

“Animals and birds cannot be allowed to starve in the country in this manner.”

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Continue feeding street animals, they do not transmit Coronavirus to Humans – Mrs. Maneka Gandhi

Senior BJP Leader and Member of Parliament, Maneka Gandhi on Saturday said that “The coronavirus is not transmitted through live animals.” Please scroll below to watch a news clipping, on this subject.

She has also issued a letter on her letterhead earlier today on 23rd March 2020, which is shared below-

All Animal care takers and Feeders can keep this letter by Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, Honourable Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha, Government of India) handy in case they are stopped by authorities while feeding community animals.

Share this letter with your RWA’s and nearest Police Station.

Please take a print out of this letter, if possible or save it on your phone, and keep it handy when you are stepping out for an animal rescue or to feed them.

A humble request to all, be kind towards animals:

Please make two extra Chapatis/Rotis daily in your home for street dogs/Cows and other stray animals who will have no means of feeding themselves since all the Restaurants/Dhabas/Food Carts are closed now due to coronavirus lockdown.

Most of the stray animals survive on leftover food provided by Hotel/Dhaba staff. These animals will starve to death in case of a prolonged lockdown. You can handover these breads to your society/ Apartment staff to be kept outside for animals. Spread the message to all the people in your circle.

Let’s all give it a try, and share this message so more and more people can do the good deed of feeding streer animals in these trying times.

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Mrs. Maneka Gandhi addresses the Media to bust myths.

While addressing the press, Maneka Gandhi said, “It has brought in the notice that the government department and several insurance agencies are creating a false panic in the coronavirus through issuing false advisories.”

She said, “These agencies are taking out the advisories on the Coronavirus, which are not confirmed by the health department by saying that nobody should go to live animals.”

“This is completely false and misleading… As the health department of India has said that the animal does not have coronavirus and cannot transmit the virus,” she said.

Adding to the statement, Maneka said, “I would advise the Ministry of Electronics, Insurance companies, and the ministry of railways not to run fake ads on this.”

In honour of the Mothers that are milked and tormented!
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In honour of the Mothers that are milked and tormented!

“There is no greater heroism than motherhood. All hail down to these mothers out there”.

A Cow’s Milk is for their calves, much like human breast milk is meant for the human child we give birth to. And it’s only mothers milk that a child really needs.

But, little do we “humans” realise what these Moms go through, every year, throughout their life.

It doesn’t end with the cows, think of the calves which are starved off their mothers milk and male calves are just left to die or sold to the leather industry for their ‘Veal‘

Be it New Year’s Day or Mother’s Day, think about these Moms who can’t speak as they live in an unimaginable life of suffering.

There are alternatives to Cow’s Milk available in the market these days and better still, like, you can make milk with soaked almonds and nuts, much healthier and with no cruelty inflicted upon these moms!

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Keep Animals safe this Holi

Holi, the “Festival of Colours” is around the corner. As you play around and enjoy getting drenched in colours, please be mindful that the same may be very torturous and harassing for street animals.

A few things to remember and teach kids and adults, alike:

1. Be sensitive, empathetic and understanding, these colours are toxic and harmful for all.

The coloured powders that are used during the festival are made with synthetic chemicals, which contain toxic metals or dyes that can cause skin allergies, rashes or even blindness in people and animals.

Animals can easily inhale the powder, which can cause nasal irritation and respiratory allergies or infections.

If an animal gets the powder in his or her eyes, quickly flush them out with clean water.

2. Teach children not to throw colours or water balloons at animals: Kids may or may not realise that this frightens and hurts animals and if animals react in self-defence then it’s you as a parent who has failed, but to shove yourself of that blame, you will blame the that animal. Why do this? Better would be to teach your child to be compassionate and kind towards these voiceless animals.

After all, kindness to animals will make this world a better place to live in.

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Discourage snake charmers!

Snake Charmers know very well how to make money by exploiting belief. It’s upto us to rid ourselves of superstitions and pity!

The traumatic life of a Snake held captive!

They don’t drink milk naturally rather they are forced ro drink it by keeping them deprived of water and thirsty, for being reptiles, they only want water

Fangs and teeth are broken resulting in an infected mouth. The infection soon spreads to the other parts of the body

Milk is usually vomited out as Snakes can’t digest it

Stitched mouth

Cobras are caught several weeks before the festival of Nagpanchami or generally for street entertainment or by Sages/Sadhus who roam around in saffron robes, conning pilgrims and innocent people!

The mouths of these Cobras are stitched, fangs and teeth are broken, they are locked up in dark, unhygenic baskets for several days, they are offered no food or water, haldi, kumkum and other irritants are sprinkled on them, forced to drink fluids (milk) that they can not digest (they vomit it out!), they are roughed up and tortured to show their hoods at each and every devotee’s house.

How much more can these reptiles handle? They really can’t and suffer a slow, agonizing death.

Take action – if you spot a snake charmer, firstly never pay & encourage them, inform the local Forest Department, NGOs working for snakes/wildlife conservation and even the nearest Police Station.

Spread this message to as many as possible and let’s save these reptiles together.

Photos used in this Article are kind courtesy of “Friends of Snakes Society“

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Say NO to Kite Flying

Kite flying is done with fun and fervour across India on the occasion of Makar Sankranti/Uttarayan festival and on India’s Republic Day and Independence Day cebrations held in the month of January and August, respectively.

Every year, thousands of birds across India lose their wings and their lives due to injuries caused by the glass-coated kite flying maanja/string, used for flying kites and in kite flying competitions. These are usually Made in China and are preferred over the traditional Indian cotton thread string/”saddi”, as they are sharp and help cut the other person’s kite string and help people win bets, games and kite-flying competitions.

What people don’t realise is that their moment of pleasure and entertainment is blood-sucking! As heads, wings or claws of birds are mutilated by maanja, once entangled in it. Birds die of excessive blood loss or are crippled for life.

Please let us not entertain ourselves at the cost of these lives.

Not only does this glass-coated manja hatm animals and birds, it has also fatally harmed kids, adults and bikers.

Flying kites with manja is definitely no fun for families who lose their loved ones or for birds who become entangled and fatally injured in the deadly glass-coated string.

Manja is deadly to thousands of pigeons, crows, owls and other birds who get entangled in it. The birds’ wings are often severed, dooming the animals to an agonising death.

Even after the kite flying festivals are over, these manjas which remain entangled on electricity poles or tree branches, continue to entrap them.

Read the story of one such pigeon here-

https://jaagruti.org/2011/07/31/a-school-presentation-a-teacher-delhi-fire-service-and-a-rescued-pigeon/

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Some Ahmedabad, Gujarat based helpline numbers are shared below:

CBSE advisory to Schools on encouraging the use of NON-leather shoes in School Uniforms
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CBSE advisory to Schools on encouraging the use of NON-leather shoes in School Uniforms

Years that we spend in school are amongst those times when our minds are most ‘impressionable’ i.e. receptive to new facts, new learnings every day. These are also the times when we are much more innocent at heart and can be sensitized into becoming a truly compassionate and kind-hearted individual who thinks beyond himself/herself.

In the Year 2014, CBSE i.e. Central Board of Secondary Education (India) had sent an advisory to all its 18,000 affiliated schools across India strongly urging them to implement a policy that bans students and staff members from wearing leather shoes in favour of animal- and Earth-friendly canvas shoes. CBSE proposed this as an “ethical” and “compassionate” way to protect the environment and animals from harm.

For not many kids and adults, or even self-proclaimed ‘vegetarians or vegans’ alike, understand, even in today’s time that leather is nothing but skin of a terrified animal, that was cruelly, painfully inhumanely slaughtered in front of their kin (often dismembered/de-skinned when it is still conscious and breathing) , and they are subjected to this brutality for their meat that you eat and/or the shoes or belts that you are wearing or the bag or wallet you are carrying or showing off!

“[B]uying leather directly contributes to encouraging the growth of factory farms and slaughterhouses …“, says the CBSE advisory. “Leather … shares responsibility for all the environmental destruction caused by the meat industry as well as the pollution cause by the toxins in tanning.”

Alternative to Leather Shoes in case you are wondering: CANVAS SHOES

The link to the Advisory on CBSE website can be accessed by clicking here, and the screenshots of the Advisory can be read by clicking on Images below (it’s a 2 page circular)

We understand as per information available on the Web that the Indian States of “Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have already moved to ban leather shoes in schools and in Goa, most schools already use canvas shoes”.

Take Action: If your school is amongst one of them that still forces you to wear Leather Shoes, then we request you to take a print out of this advisory and discuss this with the Head of your Schools, for Sir Paul McCartney once rightly said, “”If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”. Watch the Movie by clicking here.

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P.S: If you have an inspiring story or anecdote of yours to share with others to spread the wave of kindness around and more sensitivity and understanding on the need to voluntarily oppose the use of Leather goods, then please type it down in the comments section below.

Let’s spread ‘JAAGRUTI’. Let us all Inform.Share.Inspire

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The ‘illogical’ Indian – A post in memory of ‘Chintu’

Chintu

                        ‘Chintu’ – A photograph from his good old days!

 

Chintu, was a ‘Street turned Community Dog’, whom we knew since December 2004. He started living in a building staircase in the colony where I too stay ever since he was wrongly dropped off here post-Sterilization. He must be about a year old then.

A security guard in our colony, gave him that name, “Chintu”. Not one to bark unnecessarily or harm anyone, Chintu soon became popular with the residents of all 8 flats in that building. Someone gave him biscuits, someone milk, and some others gave him roti with milk. His days were spent sun-bathing, with his little tongue strutting out, eyes closed, be it winters or summers.

With the ever so loyal and vigilant ‘Chintu’ around, no robbery ever happened on that street or in the building he inhabited.

Chintu was a bit scared of us though, unlike other street dogs. His reasons were perhaps that we always had dogs from ‘our’ street walking beside us- who never left an opportunity to scare Chintu away!

Nonetheless, we tried to pet him when we could and also did our duty of getting Chintu both his vaccination shots every year ever since he became a resident community dog of our colony, as we do annually with other dogs living on the streets in our colony and neighbourhood areas.

Wonderful 10+ healthy years passed away for Chintu in that building of ‘his’.

As November 2015 approached, a resident of that building stopped us on our morning walk with our dog and said that ‘Chintu’ has been vomiting recently. Since Chintu gets scared seeing us and doesn’t eat from us either, we checked with our Vet and gave the 5 day oral medication to that gentleman- resident of that building to feed Chintu.

Chintu was better, so was the feedback we got. His vomiting had stopped.

As the winters set in, we placed a Jute bori for him on that building staircase and later a piece of blanket too.

Then one day in December 2015, a lady resident of that building ‘interrupted’ our morning walk with our dog, asking us to take Chintu away somewhere as his vomiting is ‘spreading infections’. When we told her that the best we can do is begin his treatment again and that taking him anywhere is not recommended as he is a sensitive dog, much attached to this staircase, which he considers his home, she started another story of how she cares for pigeons!

Anyways, we started his medications again.

That December night as we went to place another bori for him as the winter chill had increased, we noticed to our shock, a printed and pasted sheet on the wall, “instructing residents not to feed the dog as he vomits in the building and is making conditions unlivable and unhealthy”.

The next evening, 23rd December 2015, when I went and met the lady who had pasted this notice, who was a Doctor herself, we requested her to let the residents  continue feeding him. How can antibiotics work with an empty stomach, was our reasoning to her.

No food- No vomit was her illogical reasoning.

She was a doctor, after all, we hoped she would understand, but she kept shaking her head in disdain and said, “No, only milk for Chintu, he has anything solid he vomits and I will send him off somewhere”. We tried to tell her not to do this as Chintu is a very sensitive dog, he won’t be able to live one more day if dislocated from ‘his’ building. We even left our number with her. She nodded and took it and we saved her number in our phone too. When I offered her anti-emetic and anti-acidity tablets to give to Chintu in his food, she said, “I have them, don’t need any”.

The next evening 24th December 2015, as we came to get Chintu injected with antibiotics, we noticed the boris and blankets were missing. The lady doctor said ‘Chintu’ keeps shifting his bedding on his own! Really?

Allow us to share that this ‘lady doctor’ goes to the temple religiously every morning with her basket of flowers and other offerings to please the Lord.

As I left for a Training on 25th December 2015 night, we requested the ground floor resident of that building to continue feeding Chintu whatever they could and that I will take him to the Vet once I return. God only knows what fate befell Chintu in those 3 days that I was away. On 28th December 2015, we were alerted to Chintu being dragged down the stairs for being taken away to a hospital, whose ambulance this lady doctor had called. As my brother came and got Chintu out of the ambulance to lift him to our home, the damage was already done. Chintu’s back had been damaged, he was writhing in pain. It was only then the lady doctor had the cheek to call me, never before, she had made up her mind long back to get Chintu off that building of ‘hers’!

I returned back on 29th December morning and rushed Chintu to the Vet while getting his Chest and Abdomen X-rays done along the way and blood samples were given to for his Blood, Kidney and Liver tests.

The Chest X-ray revealed infection in his lungs-not surprised- the winter chill got to him because the so called residents of that building took all his boris and blankets away. His back bone was injured off the trauma and force exerted on him while being dragged down the stairs by those dog catchers in the animal ambulance. He was a step away from being paralysed, so said the Vet. His abdomen was completely empty – pointing out that he was ‘starved’ by the residents of those very building who fed him all these years till he was healthy.

We began his course of treatment at our trusted Vet’s clinic and then got him back home, Chintu’s painful cries never stopped. His vital organs were now also failing him.

His body was paralysed later that night. Chintu had had enough!

He passed away with all of my family around him at 5am on 30th December 2015 morning.

He had crossed over the Rainbow bridge and moved on to a place far away from all illogical Indians.

As we took him to the Crematorium that morning, we stopped by at that building once where Chintu had lived all his life, only to see his boris and food bowls thrown away in the garbage. The residents of that building were perhaps in a tearing hurry to clean up after Chintu was ‘forcefully’ removed by them.

We cremated him with sunrise that morning. We were very sad but glad that Chintu was now in peace, for we knew long back, from these 11 years of observing him, as to how much he loved ‘his’ home i.e. that building, that staircase where he spent all his life.

Old age is not a disease. You, me, every one, every creature who is born on this planet turns old. You would turn old and so would I. Health problems can affect anyone of us too. It doesn’t mean you shun the sick patient off in his old days or days of ill-health. It is in those days that they need your care and affection the most, be it a human, an animal or a bird.

For all the Illogical Indians and residents of that building whom Chintu innocently thought were his well-wishers, but rather they were just his fair-weather friends – we now have just one thing to say, Chintu died not because of being sick, he died of the trauma and starvation YOU ALL inflicted on him in those last few days of his. No amount of going to temples to worship daily will wash away this sin of yours away. Chintu, like all dogs, had a big heart. He may forgive you all, but we sincerely hope someone up above has taken note of all of yours illogical deeds.

A little empathy is all ‘Chintu’ needed and deserved, and he did not get any in his worst hour of need.

empathy-quotes-6

Rest in peace, Chintu.

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Is Kite flying worth it?

Yesterday, we found a pigeon entangled itself in a kite string (maanjha) left behind on a shrub’s branch in the aftermath of the Kite Flying post the15th August Independence Day celebrations.

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These birds normally can be noticed hanging upside down!

We cut the string from above, and then carefully detangled the string to free the bird’s claws and wings and the Pigeon flew away as no damage was done since we noticed her in time.
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While you fly kites, the kite strings you leave behind after your entertainment, rob many birds of their flights of freedom. Many are crippled, many more die!

Is flying kites really worth these many lives lost? Think it over.

If you like our work, and would like to support JAAGRUTI please click and contribute through https://jaagruti.org/contribute-to-jaagruti

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Boycott Kerala Tourism, because Kerala is cruel to its animals

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This is my attempt to reach out to tourists who plan to visit Kerala from dog – friendly nations across the world. Thanks. #boycottkeralatourism SPREAD THE WORD PLEASE: The state of Kerala (in India), famously termed “God’s own country” is now aptly being rechristened as “Dog’s own HELL”. Kerala that thrives on the revenues it raises from the tourists it gets…now needs a strong lesson in compassion for its ghastly unlawful act of killing street dogs! The ‘killers’, insensitive and cruel as they are have spared no dog, they have killed/are killing even little new born pups with lactating mother dogs, pregnant dogs, even dogs with collars on them being looked after by community caretakers/villagers/shopkeepers  #boycottkeralatourism. Shame on you, the State of Kerala and all the ruthless people orchestrating this bloodshed on street dogs in Kerala. Your cruel face stands exposed, you want tourists too see the state’s natural beauty, when your cruel heart now stands exposed! Cruelty to elephants, cruelty to dogs, the most apathetic  conditions in which you slaughter animals, cows, camels, little calves etc. , we name it and you do it! Not anymore. #Keralaiscrueltoanimals. The carnage still continues in Kerala, despite the fact that street dogs are being wrongly blamed for all dog bites in the state, see news report below.

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A link to an article : http://travel.india.com/articles/will-kerala-tourism-affected-gods-country-turns-dogs-hell/

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Delhi SPCA deploys enforcement staff to check on Animal cruelty cases in Delhi

DSPCA Letter 5th March 2015


As per letter No. DSPCA/(I) Admin/2015/22/665 dated 5th March 2015, issued by Mr. Kaushal Kishore, Administarive Officer, DSPCA (Delhi Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) shared in this blog post, people in Delhi should please make a note of this that whenever you see a violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 or its rules in Delhi, you can report the same on the helpline number of DSPCA is +91-11-23972805.

You are requested to call them only when you are SURE that an offense has taken place.

[To understand what the offenses are, please gain an understanding of the laws that govern prevention of cruelty to animals in India by clicking here]

Please do not call them for reporting sick or injured animals where there is no need for prosecution. Instead approach the nearest animal hospital or better, still take the animal to the hospital or a veterinarian’s clinic yourself for getting them the required medical treatment.

If you do not live in Delhi, you are advised to go to your DM/DC (District Magistrate/District Collector), and show them this order and work with them to make the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) active in your city.


An SPCA has powers under the SPCA Rules 2001 ( http://envfor.nic.in/legis/awbi/awbi18.html ) which NGOs do not have.

Be a part of the SPCA in your city and stop cruelty more effectively.

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Slaughtering and sale of Dog, Cat, Camel Meat is Illegal under the Food Safety and Standards Act

This post is courtesy the inputs shared by Ms. Gauri Maulekhi, Co-opted Member, Animal Welfare Board of India

As per the below mentioned order dated 6th August 2014, issued by Director (Enforcement) of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), it is illegal to slaughter any other animal other than the ones belonging to the species of Bovines, Caprines, Ovines, Suillines, and this includes Poultry and Fish.

Please use the attached order if you find dog, cat, rabbit or camel meat anywhere in your city.
Some restaurants openly advertise camel meat menu items. Action can now be taken against them and they can now be sent to jail.

If you were to organise meat shop raids in your cities and seek assistance from the district Food Safety Officer, who is a part of the Chief Medical Officer’s team. The Food Safety Officer is responsible for penalising the offender or to initiate proceedings against him.

Even if animals of the permissible species are being slaughtered, you can seek action against, filth, cruelty, child labor, pollution, misbehaviour, nuisance, theft etc as the case may be.

FSSAI Order dated 6th August 2014

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Supreme Court of India stands up for Animal Rights, bans cruel bull-taming sport ‘Jallikattu’

SC stands up for animal rights, bans Jallikattu
The Supreme Court of India in a landmark and historic judgement passed in the morning of 7th May 2014 has favoured constitutional status for rights of animals like citizens and banned the use (and abuse) of Bulls and Bullocks in Jallikattu, Bullock Cart Racing and all in other ‘sports and entertainment’ based events and/or festivities.
THE COMPLETE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT ON JALLIKATTU DATED  7th MAY 2014 CAN BE ACCESSED BY CLICKING HERE

In a major step towards protecting animals from human cruelty, the Supreme Court on Wednesday 7th May 2014, banned the popular post-harvest Jallikattu (taming the bull) or bullfights in Tamil Nadu and bullock-cart racing in Maharashtra, Punjab and other states, saying they violated provisions of the 50-year-old Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. 

Significantly, the court favoured constitutional status for rights of animals like citizens. It said, “Parliament, it is expected, would elevate rights of animals to that of constitutional rights, as done by many of the countries around the world, so as to protect their dignity and honour.” 


A bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and P C Ghose struck down as illegal the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act, 2009, and said, “Bulls cannot be used as performing animals, either for the Jallikattu events or bullock-cart races in the state of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and elsewhere in the country.” 

Before banning Jallikattu and cart-racing, the bench extensively narrated behavioural patterns of the animal. “Bulls adopt flight or fight response when they are frightened or threatened and this instinctual response to a perceived threat is what is being exploited in Jallikattu or bullock-cart races,” it said. 

“During Jallikattu, many animals are observed to engage in a flight response as they try to run away from the arena when they experience fear or pain, but cannot do this since the area is completely enclosed. Jallikattu demonstrates a link between actions of humans and the fear, distress and pain experienced by bulls,” it said. 

“Studies indicate that rough and abusive handling of bulls compromise welfare and for increasing fear in bulls, often, they are pushed, hit, prodded, abused, causing mental as well as physical harm,” said Justice Radhakrishnan, who authored the judgment for the bench. 

Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) through senior advocate Raj Panjwani, said even if Jallikattu was conducted as per the Tamil Nadu legislation, it would still violate provisions of PCA Act as the event involved causing pain and suffering to bulls, which was prohibited under Section 11(1)(a) of the central law. 

AWBI said Jallikattu and bullock-cart races had no historical, cultural and religious significance and told the court that even if they had, it should not be permitted as it violated the PCA Act. 

While declaring that the rights of bulls against cruelty was inviolable, the bench gave a general direction to the governments and AWBI “to take appropriate steps to see that the persons-in-charge or care of animals take reasonable measures to ensure the well-being of animals”. 

This could put all pet owners, dairy farm owners and animal keepers on notice against causing cruelty to them. However, the court did not deal with a related issue – whether bullock-carts, which are rural India’s sole transportation medium both for men and material, were included in this general direction. 

The court also gave the following directions: 

  • AWBI and governments are directed to take steps to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals, since their rights have been statutorily protected under Section 3 and 11 of the PCA Act.
  • AWBI to ensure that provisions of Section 11(1) of the PCA Act is scrupulously followed, meaning thereby that the person-in-charge or care of animals shall not incite any animal to fight against a human being or another animal
  • If the court’s directions are not complied with scrupulously, it would be the duty of the government and AWBI to bring to book the violator.

Credits: Above News Report has been taken from Times of India and is penned by TOI Correspondent Dhananjay Mahapatra

For those readers of ‘Jaagruti’, who don’t understand what ‘Jallikattu’ is and why the Supreme Court Order on this sport to be banned should be welcomed, please watch this video
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My Pain of being an abandoned dog!

This article is from us, we are the ones who are either living on the roads or in an Animal Shelter. We are those canine babies, who have been abandoned by one of you. You have taken advantage of us being ‘voiceless’. If we were able to speak, we could define or explain our pain. There are so many of us, but here is me. Hello my name is Nandini, this name was given to me by the staff at the Animal Shelter. I am going to tell my story, which is not a story but the bitter reality of my life.

My owner brought me to his house when I was just one month old. I used to feed on my mother’s milk, I should have been left with my mom till the time I was 45-50 days old, but this owner of mine was in a hurry to take me to his house, so he gave money to the breeder and bought me for Rs. 5000.

Now I was in his home, I used to cry because I missed my mom’s love, care and warmth but, they thought that I was hungry and offered me packed milk. I took that because I was hungry, but my body didn’t accept it and I became sick. The vet advised them to give me formulated powdered milk for small babies, they didn’t.

By now, I had forgotten the taste of my mother’s milk and had unconditionally accepted all of them as my family. My owner’s 7 years old son used to play with me a lot. As I was very young, I used to sleep most of the time, he used to come and wake me up to play, but I never got angry with him, because he was my friend and I was committed to live with them till my last breath.

His son and I, both were growing-up. I loved them as much as I can. When they used to go out for work or for roaming around, I waited for them at home. When they used to come back, I always pleased them, hugged them, and kissed them as if we are meeting after a long time. But slowly and slowly I realized as I turned 3 years old that the entire family had started losing interest in me. They rarely came to play with me and the duty of feeding me and taking me for my walks was also given to the servant. Most of the time the servant forgot to feed me or gave me the wrong diet, at the wrong time, but none at home cared. I still never complained and gave my loyal, pure love to all. But, I missed playing with them, walking with them, their touch of love, had I lost my charm in their eyes, I wondered!

Due to lack of proper care and good diets and walks, I became sick and developed skin eczema.  I started losing my hair, but then, instead of taking the vet’s advice or taking me to a vet’s clinic, they started ignoring me all the more and then, they all decided to leave me in a shelter. I overheard them saying that, “she will get everything that she needs, i.e. food, medicine, shelter etc. over there, i.e. in the Animal Shelter. For these people, the definition of everything is different; I am a living being and a social one at that, along with food and medicines, I also need love, care, a family and a home where I could feel safe.

I wondered what my fault was. I never made them suffer or leave them alone when they were suffering, feeling bad or when they were feeling lonely…I used to sit with  them, hear them out and did all I could to make them comfortable and make them smile all over again. But now, when I needed their love and some medical care, they dumped me!

The day I reached the Animal Shelter, I overheard the screams and cries of other dogs, many were weeping…I became scared, but with my family around me, I was confident that nothing bad will happen to me, may be they had got me here to get my skin infection treated and we will leave from there in a short while and go back home.

But that was not to be. I soon realized much to my distress that they were leaving me behind here. They handed my leash to one of the staffers at the Shelter, gave them some money and started walking away. I was confused, I was scared…I started barking, jumping and calling out to them, so that they would hear me, come back and take me with them. I was confused as to how can they forget me here…My family, my world was moving away from me, it was the end of everything for me. They started the car and went away…I was left behind ALONE, ABANDONED, CRYING…me the voiceless became even more voiceless. My tears couldn’t stop, my heart pained with sorrow. But there was no one who could understand my grief.

For that day, I was kept in a small cage, because the other dogs in the shelter were not ready to accept me and be friends with me so soon. The staff at the shelter offered me food but I didn’t take that. That night I spent with tear in my eyes and fear in my heart. The whole night I cried and was praying that somehow I will meet my owners again. The eczema problem was not in my hand, so why did they punish me for it, I continued to wonder. That night finished, the next morning I woke up and I was continuously staring at the door of the shelter that my owner will realize his fault, will miss me too and will come back to take me back to home. The day passed by waiting for my owner. Whenever I listened to a car horn, I raised my ears to listen to their voice but they didn’t come. That day I also didn’t take food, I was crying. Suddenly, I noticed the presence of other dogs around me; they told me that they all have stories similar to mine. Some were left behind because their owners had their jobs transferred to other cities, some were dumped because they had tumours or other health issues, some were thrown away here because they had behavioral problems (which could have been worked upon and corrected for good), some were left because the owner’s wife was now pregnant and some were even left here, because they didn’t grow up looking the way their owner expected them to…and a million more senseless reasons one could think of. We all shared our pain with each other and they made me realize that I am losing my health by staying hungry and waiting for such heartless people. I was so sad and depressed, but then, suddenly I heard something… a shelter member called me Nandini and also said to me, “Baby I do not know your real name but will love to call you Nandini”. I started adjusting myself over there, I got food twice a day but I hardly got a friend to play, after all, the staff at the shelter to look after other injured and accident hit dogs who make their way to the Hospital every day…though they all try their best, they cannot spare time to give individual attention and care to ‘abandoned and dumped’ dogs like me. The Vet at the Hospital checked on me, my medication for Eczema started and within a couple of weeks I got all my hair back but I did not get my owner back. I guess, they were not even bothered to check, whether I was dead or alive. On the weekend, some volunteers used to come from outside to feed us, spend some time with us but not to adopt us and take us home with them. I am not blaming anyone but I do want to ask you all, why do you keep us dogs as your pets, if you cannot commit yourself to look after us well for the short lives we have? Do you consider us as ‘objects’ that can be dumped in the bin, when you no longer need it? If you just wanted to pass time with a cuddly, furry creature, you could have best invested your money in buying yourself or your kid a stuff toy….next time, please buy toys and not us to pass your time with, you are no one to decide on our fate. We also want a family that is willing to make a lifelong commitment to look after us in our good and bad days.

I, Nandini………….. I survived in that shelter every day, with that pain of being abandoned, being ‘unwanted’ by those whom I loved. I was living with a hope that may be, someone amongst you will come forward to adopt me, love me, and give me a home and family of my own once again…but that never happened. Usually, we dogs can live for 12 to 14 years if we get love and care, but I died at the age of 4 years…I couldn’t live at the shelter beyond a few months, the pain was too much to bear…Yes, I am dead…I waited and waited, but did not get the love I yearned for.

I am no more but I wish after reading this article my other friends will be adopted from shelter.

Adopt us and never ever abandon.

Adopt, don’t buy, there are too many homeless animals like me around.

An Adoption Appeal for ‘Tiger’:

Now, if any one of you reading this has a heart to adopt this Golden coloured 5-6 year old healthy Male Labrador, who was recently dumped for no fault of his by his owner, please let us know by writing to contact@jaagruti.org

I am TIGER: an abandoned 5-6 year old Male Labrador ' - Anyone who can give me a home and a place in their hearts?

I am TIGER: an abandoned 5-6 year old Male Labrador ‘ – Anyone who can give me a home and a place in their hearts?

 

About the Authors*: This article was written by Nikhil & Jyoti; and first published in the 2nd Annual Issue of the Canis Welfare Pet Club’s souvenir Magazine

 

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Noida Federation instructions to Resident Welfare Associations regarding lawful manner of dealing with street dogs

After the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon’s directive to Presidents of all Gurgaon-based Residential Welfare Associations (RWAs) to stop harassing people/residents who have pets and tend to street dogs, comes the below mentioned letter issued by Federation of Noida Resident Welfare Associations to all its member RWAs in Noida, apprising them on the lawful manner of dealing with street dogs and the people who tend to them, feed them, get them sterilized and vaccinated.

So, for all those of you who stay in Noida and are being harassed by your respective RWA for feeding and tending to street dogs, please take note of this important letter, download it from the link below and use it to fight your case for the animals you care for.

Download by clicking here – Noida Federation instructions to RWAs regarding lawful manner of dealing with street dogs

Noida Federation instructions to RWAs regarding street dogs_Page 1 of the letter

Noida Federation instructions to RWAs regarding street dogs_Page 1 of the letter

Noida Federation instructions to RWAs regarding street dogs_Page 2 of the Letter

Noida Federation instructions to RWAs regarding street dogs_Page 2 of the Letter

Please also read:

Gurgaon Municipal Corporation’s Directive to Presidents of Residential Welfare Societies to stop harassing people who have pets and tend to street dogs

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To all those of you who are being harassed by their neighbourhood for tending to animals….

Please remember that for the animals, if not for yourself, you need to be strong and fight this out.

While you can approach local animal welfare organisations or animal activists, but in the end, it is a fight you will have to fight on your own, for yourself and the animals you care for…

  • If talking to people and explaining them the below mentioned laws and constitutional provisions doesn’t help, then, whether you like it or you don’t, you need to approach the Police and file an F.I.R or Police Complaint against all the people who are harassing you, abusing you, threatening to kill/harm you/your property and the dogs/other animals you care for.
  • Be sure to mention full names and addresses of all the people who are harassing you and give complete true account of the matter, without exaggerating facts – take help of the points stated below to put your grievances and facts across and mention why you are seeking help from the Police and reporting this matter.
  • There is no law that prohibits feeding of street animals, and citizens who choose to do so are in fact performing a duty cast upon them by the Constitution of India. Persons, who are trying to interfere with their effort, or display aggression, can be held liable for having committed the offense described in the Indian Penal Code and criminal intimidation.
  • Moreover, as per Indian law, street dogs cannot be beaten or driven away. They can merely be sterilized in the manner envisaged in the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001(Rules under Indian Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA), 1960), vaccinated, and then returned back to their original locations.
  • If your municipality is not doing the same, you can file a Police Complaint or FIR against the local Municipal Corporation for flouting the laws and rules mentioned above, which need to be complied with throughout the country, as PCA Act is a Central Act, i.e. it is applicable across the country and the local Police has been mandated with the responsibility of enforcing this act and reporting/booking violations/offenders.

Constitutional provisions:

  • Article 51A of the Constitutional Law of India, speaks about the duties of every citizen of India. One of these duties includes having compassion for living creatures (Article 51 A (g) of the Indian Constitution). Those who look after animals and other creatures of God are thus protected under the Constitution.

 

  • Article 19 of the Constitution of India, deals with right to freedom and in this freedom are included the right to profession, occupation, trade and business. Therefore, it means that every citizen has the right to occupation and if someone has taken the caring of animals as his occupation, it is legal and he has every right to carry on with his occupation.

Legal provisions:

In a Judgment passed by the Delhi Court, it has been stated that the Animal Welfare Board of India and the Municipal Authorities have in the guidelines issued by them specified the problem often faced by individuals and families who adopt and feed stray animals. The court says that it is necessary to bring into record that these individuals and families who adopt stray animals are doing a great service to humanity as they are acting in the aid and assistance of Municipal Authorities by providing these animals with food and shelter and also by getting them vaccinated and sterilized. Without assistance of such persons no local Municipal Authority can successfully carry out its ABC programme. The Court has proceeded to say that the local police and the municipal authorities are under obligation not only to encourage such adoption but also to ensure protection to such persons who come forward to take care of these animals specifically the community or neighbourhood dogs so that they are not subjected to any kind of cruelty, finally, the Court has said that every individual has the right to live his life in the manner he wants and it is necessary that the society and the community recognize it.

  • If you are a woman/girl who is being abused/harassed/threatened by neighbours/people around for being kind to animals, please also note that you can lodge F.I.Rs against these people Under Section 509 of Indian Penal Code (U/S 509 of IPC) – which is a cognizable offence.
  • Under the Govt. of India, Animal Birth Control Rules 2001 (drafted under the Indian Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960), no sterilized dogs can be relocated from their area. As per five different High Court orders, sterilized dogs have to remain in their original areas. If the dog is not sterilized, the Society can simply ask an animal welfare organization to sterilize and vaccinate the dog. They cannot relocate them. Relocation is not permissible, as it would cause more problems such as an increase in dog bites as new dogs will move into the area who are unfamiliar with residents and therefore more likely to be hostile. All problems of stray animals have to be handled within the institutional framework available. No association, recognized or unrecognized, shall take recourse to any action regarding stray animals on their own, either themselves or through any person employed by them like security guards. While residents and Associations are free to address institutional agencies for redressal of grievances in this matter, no resident/association will interfere with the freedom of other residents in caring and attending animals.
  • Section 11 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 forbids the displacement of Animals from its natural environment into an environment that is hostile to it, where the animal may be injured/hurt/maimed or killed due to lack of food or fights with other animals. Also, please remember that Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 is a Central Act, i.e. it is applicable throughout the country and the powers to enforce this law have been given to the Local Police.
  • Additionally, Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code also provides for imprisonment and fine, in cases involving animal cruelty. Section 429 in The Indian Penal Code, 1860, a Central Government Act, reads as follows:

“Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc., of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees.– Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless, any elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox, whatever may be the value thereof, of any other animal of the value of fifty rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment or either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both.”

Following are some of the self-explanatory documents that one can look up and refer to:

1. A 2 page circular issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Training, on the aspect of street animal feeding and prohibits central government employees from harassing street dogs or those feeding/looking after them.

https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/public-grievances-circular-pg-1.jpg

https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/public-grievances-circular-pg-2.jpg

2. The Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001.

https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/the-animal-birth-control-dogs-rules-2001.pdf

3. A directive issued by the Animal Welfare Board of India, constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests- provides immunity to animal feeders and restricts RWAs from harassing people tending to dogs.

https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/awbi-direction.pdf

4. M.C.D. (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) notification, showing the approach of the M.C.D. with regard to street animals, which is based on the law of the land.

https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/mcd-notices-toi-march-2009.jpg

5. A Times of India news report regarding a Delhi High Court direction to the police to protect persons who feed stray dogs.

https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/times-of-india-article-on-feeding.pdf

6. A Hindustan Times news report regarding the view taken by the Supreme Court regarding stray dogs.

https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/ht-article-24th-jan-supreme-court-stays-bombay-high-court-order.jpg

7. An order passed by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/addln-chief-metropolitan-magistrates-order-on-street-dogs-of-india.pdf

8. A Dossier of Indian Street Dog related laws and court rulings – https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/a-dossier-of-indian-street-dog-related-laws-and-court-rulings.pdf and Copies of other court judgments can be downloaded from http://www.strays.in/index.php/legal-precedence-faqs-judgements-court-cases-drafts/

9. Reporting a crime and lodging an F.I.R or Police Complaint-

https://jaagruti.org/2013/12/13/reporting-a-crime-all-about-lodging-an-f-i-r-with-the-police/

If you want awareness workshops held in your company or Institution on the subject of animal laws and welfare, for audience in any age-group, please write to us on contact@jaagruti.org

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Reporting a Crime: All about lodging an F.I.R with the Police

This post is a much needed compilation we did using the information available on www.jaagore.com and www.ipaidabribe.com, so that people who wish to report animal-related crimes and/or are facing instances of criminal intimidation and harassment from neighbours/RWAs/fellow society people (meted out to those who fight for animal rights, feed/take care of neighbourhood dogs and animals) – can also learn the intricacies behind filing a complaint at the local Police Station, be it an FIR or Police Complaint.

*We thank http://www.jaagore.com and http://www.ipaidabribe.com for their exhaustive work and acknowledge their work and credit all information taken below, except for minor edits and additions done at a few places, to them.

How to file an F.I.R (First Information Report)

  • Technically an F.I.R refers to the information on the commission of an offence given to a police officer by the first informant. In other words, it is basically a complaint document that sets the provisions of the criminal law in motion.
  • To begin with, it is important to primarily understand the difference between Cognizable and Non-Cognizable offences. And F.I.R is filed for cognizable offences.
  • Under the Criminal Procedure Code, commonly known as CrPC, a cognizable offence allows the police to directly register an F.I.R and immediately begin investigation. The accused can also be arrested without a Warrant. Rape, murder, kidnapping and theft are examples of offences that fall into this category.
  • In a Non-Cognizable Offence, the police will require the permission of the court to register a case or investigate. The accused cannot be arrested without a Warrant and the offence is bailable. Examples of non-cognizable offences include criminal intimidation, trespassing, making a public nuisance of oneself, misappropriation of property, physical assault, forgery, causing simple hurt, and simple cheating.

The difference between an F.I.R and a Police Complaint OR the limitations behind lodging an F.I.R are as follows:

An F.I.R can only be filed for a cognizable crime. In the event someone is trying to file an F.I.R for a crime that falls in the non-cognisable category it is the duty of the police to listen to them, enter the matter in their daily register or dairy, give the person a signed copy of the entry made (as proof of the matter being recorded) and direct them to the closest or appropriate magistrate. The signed copy of the entry made by the police is free of cost and is a right to receive. The police may not investigate a complaint even if you file a FIR, when: (i) The case is not serious in nature; (ii) The police feel that there is not enough ground to investigate. However, the police must record the reasons for not conducting an investigation and in the latter case must also inform you. — [Section 157, Criminal Procedure Code, 1973]

Do’s and don’ts to keep in mind while filing a Police Complaint/F.I.R

Details to give when filing an F.I.R: If you are a victim or witness of a crime give clear descriptions of all that you experienced, saw or remember. If you are filing an FIR for a crime that you have second hand knowledge of, then report exactly what you were told or what you heard. Information should never be exaggerated or false. Important details to include are the date, time, location and a description of the culprits or people involved. The sequence of events that occurred and details of what each person did or said

What to do when the police refuse to file F.I.R:

If you are reporting a cognisable crime and the police refuse to register your FIR, you can make a complaint to a higher ranking officer such as the Superintendent of Police (SP)/SHO (Station House Officer of Local Police Station), the Deputy Inspector General (DIG)/ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police)/DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) or the Inspector General of Police (IGP)/CP (Commissioner of Police).

You can also complain to the nearest judicial magistrate, who will order the police to register the FIR if deemed necessary. Ensure that you get a receipt of your complaint being registered. (This means a stamped receiving given by the authority on the photocopy of your complaint)

You can also…

  • Send your complaint in writing to the Superintendent of Police (SP)/SHO of the Local Police Station by Registered Post Acknowledgement Due (Regd. Post AD).
  • Make a written complaint to the concerned State Human Rights Commission or the National Human Rights Commission that the police are not doing their duty of enforcing the law or that they are being negligent, biased or corrupt.

Things you must not do:

  • Never file a false complaint or give wrong information to the police. You can be prosecuted under law for giving wrong information or for misleading the police.—[Section 203, Indian Penal Code 1860]
  • Never exaggerate or distort facts.
  • Never make vague or unclear statements.

Process Flow of filing an F.I.R:

1. It must be filed immediately. If there is any delay, mention it in the form.

2. If given orally, it MUST be taken down in writing and explained to you by the officer in charge, at a Police Station within the jurisdiction of which the offence has taken place.

3. There should be four copies recorded simultaneously, with carbon sheets in place.

4. It must be recorded in first person. Do check in which language this needs to be done.

5. Make sure the officials’ attitude towards you is sympathetic and yours towards him/her is respectful.

6. Avoid complicated, technical words, terminologies and unnecessary details.

7. Try not to overwrite or score out words.

8. Ensure that the arrival/departure time is mentioned in the F.I.R and in the Daily Diary (DD) Register at the Police Station

9. It must contain authentic information, including these necessary bits of information:

– What information do you want to convey?
– In what capacity are you providing the information?
– Who is the perpetrator of the crime?
– Who has the crime been committed against – victim /complainant?
– When was it committed (time)?
– Where was it committed (specific place /locality/area)?
– Why do you think it was committed?
– Which way (actual process involved) was it committed?
– Were there any witnesses? (Names will be required here.)
– What were the losses? (Money /valuables/ possessions /physical damage etc.)
– What were the traces at the scene of the crime? (Weapons/evidence if any.)

10. After completion, you MUST carefully read the document and sign it.

11. It must be recorded by the officer in the book maintained for this purpose by the State Government.

12. You have the right to and must get a copy of it for your records.  You are not required to pay for the same.

13. You are not required by law to give an affidavit.

——————————————————————————————–

Department / Organisation: Police Department

Contact person: Police helpline 100.

Location: Find your local police station within your police jurisdiction on the map.

Note: Police Station located nearest to you may NOT be within the police jurisdiction where you need to report the offence. Be informed of your area police station beforehand.

Infographic Process Flow:

The procedure of filing an FIR is prescribed in Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973

Infographic Courtesy: jaagore.com

Infographic Courtesy: jaagore.com

Q and As about FIR

Who can lodge an F.I.R?

Any person who is aware about the offence can file an F.I.R. It is not compulsory that he should be an aggrieved person. Even a police officer can file an F.I.R. if he comes to know about any offence. The F.I.R. can be filed by various people like:

  • An aggrieved person.
  • A person who is aware about the facts of the crime.
  • A person who has seen a crime being committed.

2. When can I lodge an F.I.R?

You can lodge an F.I.R only in case of a cognizable offence.

A cognizable offence is a criminal offence in which the police are empowered to register an F.I.R, investigate, and arrest an accused without a court issued warrant. Offences like murder, rape, kidnapping, theft, robbery, fraud, etc. are classified as cognizable offences.

A non-cognizable offence is an offence in which the police can neither register an FIR, nor effect arrest without the express permission or directions from the court. Offences like simple hurt, verbal abuse, intimidation, defamation, misappropriation of property, physical assault, forgery, etc. are non-cognizable offences.

3. Where can I lodge an F.I.R?

To file an F.I.R, one has to go to the police station within the jurisdiction of which the cause of action arose or the offence took place.

4. How do I lodge an F.I.R?

  • To file an F.I.R, one has to go to the police station within the jurisdiction of which the cause of action arose or the offence took place.
  • Every piece of information relating to the commission of offence is to be given to the officer in-charge of the police station. If it is given orally to the officer, he shall reduce it to writing and read it over to the informant to confirm and verify the details.
  • Every such information has to be signed by the informant after which it is required to be recorded by the officer in a book maintained for this purpose as prescribed by the State Government.
  • The informant is entitled to receive a copy of the F.I.R free of cost.
  • If the officer in-charge of the police station refuses to record the information, you can send the substance of such information, in writing and by post to the Superintendent of Police (SP) concerned. The SP is required to start the investigation himself or direct any other officer subordinate to him to start the investigation.

5. Do I have to pay for lodging an F.I.R?

No. You do not have to pay a single penny to lodge an F.I.R. It is free of cost.

6. What are the things I should ensure while the F.I.R is being lodged?

While lodging an F.I.R you must ensure the following:

  • There should be four copies being recorded simultaneously, with carbon sheets in place.
  • Language is important. It must be recorded in first person.
  • Try not to over write or score out.
  • Try to use simple words.
  • Ensure that the arrival / departure time is mentioned in the FIR and in the Daily Diary Register at the Police Station
  • Carefully read the document before signing.

7. What do I do if the police department does not consider my F.I.R?

If the officer in-charge of the police station refuses to record the information, you can send the substance of such information, in writing and by post to the Superintendent of Police (SP) concerned. The SP is required to start the investigation himself or direct any other officer subordinate to him to start the investigation.

8. What happens to the F.I.R finally?

  • When there is sufficient evidence a CHALLAN is prepared.
  • When there is insufficient evidence, F.I.R is declared as UNNTRACEABLE.
  • When FIR is found to be false or is transferred to other Police Station on point of jurisdiction, it is declared as CANCELLED.
  • After registering the F.I.R the contents of the F.I.R cannot be changed. Only High Court can quash the F.I.R.

Please also see/refer to the following for more information on this subject:

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The law on pet owners in apartments

The Hindu published the following article on the laws pet owners have to keep animals in their houses

With apartment complexes becoming the norm, it becomes important for pet owners to understand their rights and responsibilities, for the welfare of their pets and their neighbours. Residents sometimes find a letter taped to the notice board (on behalf of the Apartment Association) that says that pets are banned and that owners must either vacate or abandon their pets.

“This is tantamount to harassment, and utterly unlawful,”says Anjali Sharma, Advocate, practising at the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India, who is an Executive Committee Member of, and Legal Advisor to the Animal Welfare Board of India. “Apartment owners’ associations and residents’ welfare associations cannot ‘legislate’. They cannot take it upon themselves to issue ‘edicts’ and restrict rights available to citizens. There is no law enacted by Parliament or any State Legislature that ‘bans’ companion animals. At best, municipalities and local authorities can regulate, or insist on registration or licensing of pets. These high handed circulars and letters suddenly taped to notice boards are therefore illegal. By pressurizing people to abandon their pets in this manner, they actually compel them to violate the law, since Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, declares the same as being an offence.”

She notes that consumer courts at Mumbai have at least on two occasions upheld the rights of residents faced with similar harassment, and observed that in the present times, pets are akin to children. Denying pet-owners the right to use elevators or common areas with their pets has been held to be deficiency in service on the part of these associations. She therefore urges pet-owners to stand by their companion animals in the face of such harassment, and refuse to ‘give them up’, or abandon them.

These rights, however, do come with duties. Pet-owners must earn the goodwill of neighbours by keeping their dogs on leash while in common areas and cleaning up after them if they soil the place. Sharma tells pet owners that being considerate is a must, and a basic courtesy. “Be reasonable”, is her simple, yet powerful advice to pet owners. “Exercise care. Ensure that their vaccinations are always up to date. And always walk your dog with a leash”. She signs off with the advice that being a responsible pet parent is important to ensure harmony in community living.

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Make it a Safe and Happy Diwali…for you and animals on your street

High-decibel noise during festivals like Diwali can be very traumatic for animals. Children think its fun to throw crackers at them and watch the poor animals suffer. Parents should prevent kids from doing this.

Here are 10 tips that pet owners, animal lovers and concerned citizens can practise, to lessen the trauma for pets and street animals. (Read points 1 to 3, if not all ten to help make a difference to the planet and street animals this Diwali). We don’t burn crackers and never will, to know why, please click and read here..

 

Diwali Poster

1. Pledge: An end to bursting firecrackers. What sounds loud to the human ear becomes four times louder to a dog and even more to a cat, so, you can imagine how loud the sound of a Diwali firecracker is to them. Even birds abandon their nests due to fear.

2. Tag: Pet owners and street dog carers should collar and tag the dogs with their names and contact details. If they get lost, it would be easier for the finder to trace their owner/caretaker.

3. Temporary refuge and tags for street dogs:

Street animals bear a huge brunt, as they are more susceptible to burn injuries due to the bombs and rockets. If it is difficult for street animal carers to give refuge to the street dogs that are petrified during Diwali, it would be good to have a temporary tag with your telephone number put on it. Street dogs cover long distances out of their territory and run helter-skelter or go into hiding. People, who notice a new dog in their area, can then call the street animal-carer because of the tag.

4. Don’t Walk: Pet owners who know that their pet is petrified of crackers should even go to the extent of not walking them outside the house during this period.

5. Give them company: Don’t leave them alone at home during Diwali. Having someone around, who they know, will lessen if not eliminate the
trauma.

6. Distract: Animal behaviourists advise that pet owners should distract their pets by playing with them. Loud music that is soothing might help drown out the firecracker noise.

7. Keep Away: Don’t take or allow your pets to wander near the site where firecrackers are being burst or even near used fireworks/remnants as they retain dangerous chemicals and may be poisonous if ingested by the pets.

8. Medicate: There are Homeopathic and Bach flower remedies available to reduce the trauma faced by animals during Diwali. You can ask your homeopath/veterinarian for details about the remedy/dosage. Don’t self-medicate.

9. Report: Any firecracker-inflicted cruelty to animals or any lost pets wearing tags to the SPCA/animal NGOs in your city.

10. Keep: Emergency telephone numbers of your veterinarian and animal welfare organisations handy.

(Thank you: This post is courtesy Mid Day and the images used have been shared by PAWS Thane.)

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Gurgaon Municipal Corporation’s Directive to Presidents of Residential Welfare Societies to stop harassing people who have pets and tend to street dogs

Below are embedded image files/scans of a 3 page letter issued by Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon to Presidents of all RWAs in Gurgaon to stop harassing people who tend to street dogs and those who have pets (by passing unlawful dictats of banning pet dogs). Please use it to contest against your respective RWA’s who come out with weird aristocratic bye-laws on the same.

You can download all these pages combined together as  PDF File by clicking on the link below.

Gurgaon-Municipal-Corporation-Directive-regarding-pet-dogs-and-stray-dogs_2012 (https://jaagrutiindia.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/gurgaon-municipal-corporation-directive-regarding-pet-dogs-and-stray-dogs_2012.pdf)

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Gurgaon-Municipal-Corporation-Directive-regarding-pet-dogs-and-street-dogs_2012_Page 1

Gurgaon-Municipal-Corporation-Directive-regarding-pet-dogs-and-stray-dogs_2012_Page 2

Gurgaon-Municipal-Corporation-Directive-regarding-pet-dogs-and-street-dogs_2012_Page 2

Gurgaon-Municipal-Corporation-Directive-regarding-pet-dogs-and-stray-dogs_2012_Page 3

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Suggested reading:

For all yours reference again, please click the link below to the Notice issued by a battery of lawyers to a Gurgaon based RWA that came out with an absurd ruling to ban people from having pets.

Legal notice issued to Kanchanjunga Coop.Group Housing Society at Gurgaon 

Also, please refer to this page on the website of Pet Parents Association.

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Pet Dogs and Street Dogs: Do’s and Dont’s

Below is an article written by Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, who is the Chairperson of an organisation called, ‘People for Animals’. We happened to receive a copy of it in our Inbox from a fellow animal rescuer and deem it wise to share it on this blog of ours, since a lot of our helpline calls and e-mails are related to this subject.

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In recent times, RWAs, Apartment Owners’ Associations, and Cooperative Group Housing Societies, having taking to imposing various restrictions on pet owning residents, such as disallowing the use of lifts, or parks, by pets, or even banning pets altogether. There is widespread resentment against these moves, because not only do they unreasonably restrict the rights of residents, they are also unlawful and against recent court rulings.

Moreover, as an RWA, or an Apartment Owners’ Association, Cooperative Group Housing Society, gated complex, etc., you may often be getting complaints regarding street dogs, and requests that they be driven away, through beatings by security guards or otherwise, or just dumped elsewhere. If you accede to these requests, you will not only be violating laws and pronouncements of courts, but will not achieve any permanent solutions either. The problem will remain a perennial problem ; and you will also run afoul of animal welfare people that are increasing in number by the day, and banding themselves into well organized groups.

Below, are some DOs and DON’Ts, with respect to both, PET DOGS & STREET DOGS.

I.          WITH RESPECT TO PET DOGS & PET OWNING RESIDENTS :Please keep in mind that the following is what you CANNOT do :-

 BANNING pets, whether allowed :

a)     Even by obtaining consensus, or even if the majority of the residents want it, you cannot legally introduce any sort of ‘ban’ on the keeping of pet dogs by residents.

b)     Even by amending bye-laws or regulations or otherwise, such a ‘ban’ cannot be put into place since it is illegal, and does not have the sanction of law. In fact, in trying to ‘ban’ pets, or limit their number, you interfere with a fundamental freedom guaranteed to the citizens of India, i.e. the freedom to choose the life they wish to live, which includes facets such as living with or without companion animals.

c)    If the residents that have pets are not violating any municipal or other laws, you cannot object. The general body cannot frame or amend bye-laws that are at variance with the laws of the country. Even by a complete majority, a general body cannot adopt an illegality. Please remember, you do not have the right to legislate, and ‘lay down law’ for residents, and apartment owners or even tenants.

Use of LIFTS by pets :

d)    There is a court ruling to the effect that pets cannot be disallowed from the use of lifts ; and no charges can be imposed either, by housing societies for the use of lifts by pets. In fact, it was widely reported in the news that the concerned court had ruled that “Dogs are family, can use lifts for free”. Kindly ensure that this sort of restriction is not therefore imposed – neither a ban, nor any special charges for the use of lifts by pets.

 Use of PARKS by pets :

e)    Banning pets from gardens or parks, is short-sighted. Firstly, you may or may not own the garden or park in question. It may be an MCD or DDA park, or belong to any other organization. Secondly, pets that are not properly exercised may show aggression in frustration ; and that, surely, cannot contribute to the benefit of the residents. It may be better to fix timings when pets can be walked without inconvenience to other residents. These timings can then be intimated to the general body.

Use of leashes/muzzles by pet owners, defecation by pets in community premises, imposition of fines and other similar measures :

f)     You can request pet owners to keep their pets on leash, when walking them in common areas. You cannot however ask for muzzles as muzzles are illegal for sustained use as dogs die through overheating. Please remember, the law already provides for penalties for negligent pet owners, which the aggrieved parties can avail of.

g)    In the absence of central or state laws requiring cleaning of pet poop by pet owners, you cannot impose any rule, regulation or bye-law, with respect to mandatory cleaning of pet poop, or impose special charges or fines on pet owners. You can, of course, request them to do so.

h)    You can also experiment with the creation of various pet defecation areas within community premises, which is what some housing societies and sectors are doing. These can be imaginatively spaced out within the precincts, and you can request pet owners to train their pets into using the same. You cannot however impose fines and special charges of any kind on pet owners, because there is no mandate in law for the same.

Intimidation :

i)     Lastly, please also always bear in mind that if any association succeeds in intimidating a pet owner into ‘giving up’ or ‘abandoning’ a pet, it will actually have contributed to a violation of law ; and may well be aggravating the menace of ownerless animals on the street, that are not accustomed to living on the street and therefore get involved in and lead to accidents, injuries and deaths. Please also bear in mind that intimidation is an offense in law.

II.         WITH RESPECT TO STREET DOGS :What you CANNOT do :-

1)         Beating and driving away street dogs, NOT ALLOWED ; animal birth control and release back into same locality/territory, ALLOWED :

As per Indian law street dogs (i.e. stray dogs) cannot be beaten or driven away or dumped elsewhere or killed. They can merely be sterilized in the manner envisaged in the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001, vaccinated, and then returned back to their original locations. For the area-wise sterilization program that the law mandates shall be followed, dogs have to be returned back to their original habitat after sterilization and immunization.

2)         The rationale behind release into the same locality/territory :

Dogs, being territorial in nature, tend to fight off other dogs, and keep them from entering their territories ; and in this manner, the dog population in each territory / within each locale, stabilizes.If, however, they are removed permanently, other dogs come into the ‘dog-free’ vacuum that is thereby created. So the ‘problem’ continues.

3)         Street dog feeding, whether inside or outside community premises :

 There is no law that prohibits the feeding of street animals.Citizens who choose to do so are in fact performing a duty cast upon them by the Constitution of India – of showing compassion to all living creatures. As recently as the 12th of December, 2011, stray dog feeding has been upheld yet again by the High Court, and the emphatic challenge to the same by one R.W.A., disregarded.

4)         Animal cruelty :

Please also note, animal cruelty is an offence – under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, and Section 428 of the Indian Penal Code –punishable with imprisonment and fine.

5)         Intimidation :

Attempts to interfere with, or harass persons who choose to tend to and feed community dogs, maybe tantamount to the very grave offence of criminal intimidation.

6)         Aggression to dogs, counter productive :

Last but not the least : any aggression or hostility that the dogs may be subjected to, will only render them aggressive, and hostile to humans. They may then resort to snapping and biting in self -defense. If the same happens, the human aggressors shall be the only ones to blame.

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Pets and Resident Welfare Associations (RWA): How does the law treat your pet?

Everyday, we receive many queries and calls over the Jaagruti helpline complaining about how their Residential Society’s Welfare Associations (commonly abbreviated as RWA’s) putting up notices ‘banning pets’, coming out with ‘no pets allowed’ clauses in their society bye-laws, ‘asking people to abandon their pets’, ‘mistreating street dogs’ etc. The article below by Rishi Dev of Citizens for Animal Rights, is a must-read for all those facing such a situation. This article explains as well as empowers you with information to fight your own respective battles in this regard for your sake and for your pet child..who has no one other than you in this world to fight for him/her or their rights.

Guest Post* by Rishi Dev, Citizens for Animal Rights

In 2010, the Central Mumbai Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum gave a strong directive to a group housing society who was charging a pet owner resident monthly fees for using lifts. The court clearly said – “Dogs are part of a family hence they have the right to use the lift just as any other member, and we cannot decide who is a family member and who isn’t, each family decides for itself.”

Before this in 2008 a similar order came from a lower court that clarified that pets are part of family and cannot be restricted from living or using the residential complexes.

In 2012, the Gurgaon Municipal Corporation was the first of their kind to issue strict notices to all CGHS and RWAs in Gurgaon, warning them not to formulate rules and regulations against pets and that any such move is in conflict with the law. The notices clearly stated – “Such a move may lead to dissolution of the RWA and prosecution of its office bearers, says the letter. It is illegal to remove animals from the area through security guards employed by RWAs. Nor can they intimidate residents who may be feeding those animals. Under stray dog management rules 2001, it’s illegal for an individual, RWA or estate management to remove or relocate dogs. The dogs have to be sterilized and vaccinated and returned to the same area. Vaccinated and sterilized dogs cannot be removed by the municipality too. Under Section 506 of the IPC, it’s a crime to threaten abuse or harass neighbors who feed animals.”

So what is origin of these laws protecting dogs and cats from humans who treat them unequal?

The system of law in Indian is a tiered system, based on Arthashastra from 400 B.C. & Manusmriti from 100 A.D. wherein the central philosophy was tolerance & pluralism. This is the reason the constitution declares India to be a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic, assuring its citizens justice, equality, and liberty.

The hierarchical system of Indian constitution thus forbids the lower hierarchies to overrule or override the higher orders, laws, directions or acts. This means that if Supreme Court says ‘yes’ to something, the ‘no’ by the high courts’ gets automatically nullified. This hierarchy comes down to the lowest local urban body or court. In India most courts have already ruled in favor of the animals in all respects. Hence any organization, individual or body ruling or following actions against such orders are automatically breaking the law and in contempt of the constitution and the honorable courts.

There are laws and constitutional provisions directly allowing people to take care of animals, whether inside or outside their places of work or living. The laws clearly protect people and their animals from all kinds of discrimination.  The Indian constitution states them very clearly via various sections. Article 48-A – “The State shall endeavor to protect & improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.” Article 51-A deals with the fundamental duties of the citizen.  Article 51-A(g) states – ” It shall be duty of every citizen of India to protect & improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.” Article 19 deals with the fundamental rights of the citizen. So “Right to Protect the Environment ” comes within Article 19. After the Stockholm Declaration in 1972 the Indian Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 inserted for the first time specific provisions to protect & improve the environment. I.P.C. Section 428 and 429 provides severe punishment to people resorting to dislocation, abduction and acts of cruelty towards community animals or pets. Ministry of Public Grievances notification and a similar notification by Animal Welfare Board of India dated March 2008, provide immunity to animal feeders and restrict government employees or bodies such as Resident Welfare Associations from harassing people who try to feed or help animals. Article 25, 26, 27, 28 provides religious freedom to all citizens and preserves the principle of secularism in India. According to the constitution, all religions are equal before the State. Citizens are free to preach, practice and propagate any religion of their choice in their own way. Keeping or feeding animals is a part of the same right. The other acts which protect animals are The  Environment (Protection)  Act – 1986 & Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

Hence, anyone taking care, keeping pets or street animals has natural immunity in the law. There are many orders pertaining to street animals by many courts. But in the recent times many RWAs have shown their autocracy over residents keeping pets. Keeping the same in mind the Animal Welfare Board of India and many municipal corporations have time and again written to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) and their RWAs to refrain from these undemocratic actions.

An RWA is a private, representative body which has no legal sanctity. It is just a group of people who have come together and formed a club. Their resolutions and bye laws are not legal mandates and especially if they violate the fundamental rights of a citizen or even more goes against an existing court order. Such RWAs can be legally prosecuted and if need be can face fines or imprisonment or both. Such precedence has been set before. If any resident faces such harassment from RWAs, must immediately approach the local magistrate and file a complaint of harassment and violation of their fundamental rights. The complaint must also be sent to ROS asking them to dissolve the RWA with immediate effect. AWBI must also be approached for taking appropriate legal action against such RWA members.

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From a Non-vegetarian eating Muslim to a Vegan – Reflections by Faizan Jaleel

Guest post* by Faizan Jaleel

*Views expressed herein are solely the personal views of the author – Faizan Jaleel, who can be contacted on faizanjaleel@icloud.com

**For those interested in the subject, there is also a website based book titled, “Animals in Islam” by Al-Hafiz B.A. Mazri , which can be accessed by clicking here. 

Being a Muslim has been linked to meat eating and in fact rightly so because many or most of the Muslims (followers of Islam) are non vegetarians. Being a Muslim myself and a non vegetarian till around 2009, I could simply understand that meat was a part of our cuisine and never in the entire time of my being a Non Vegetarian came from any religious guidance at that time. Meat was cooked and we ate it. It was not told to us in any religious sermon that you should eat meat to be a Muslim and yes neither it was the other way round like it was also not told to us not to eat meat as well. We didn’t know about the slaughter and cruelty and the pain and suffering and sentience. It was out of sight and so out of mind.

If we look at the history of Islam which had its roots in the sands and deserts, it is obvious that many hundred years ago there would have been almost meager vegetation and that’s why the cuisine there was mostly bland (lack of spices) and meat (lack of fruits, vegetables and grains). While Islam does teach about being compassionate and merciful and loving to all the life forms, it doesn’t prohibit meat eating, which fits well for that era. There is no evidence that I could refer to where it has been propagated in Islam to raise farm animals for organised slaughter and profit making if there are alternates available in abundance.

The entire meat eating frenzy which is common to a large part of our society is an organised business that rides on billions and trillions of dollars, cruelty and misery. Each day many million lives are taken in an indefinite number of slaughter houses. Many countries and unfortunately my Country also participates in this madness and crime and holds a distinction of causing maximum cruelty through its extremely crude methods of killing and murdering animals. Billions are earned each day.

As I see it and present my view, I believe, that meat eating in today’s world which provides a sea of alternatives is not as per the teachings of Islam. I believe Prophet Mohammad would have never approved of this, I believe that no Islamic scholar can justify this madness of killing and profit making when it is not required to be as per the tenets of Islam, however it can be very easily proved that this form of mass murder is against the teachings of love, compassion and mercy that Islam preaches so strongly. And it is not only about eating meat and killing animals, another aspect of the same issue is the amount of food grains used in raising these cattle and livestock population, the food that could have very easily fed millions of starving human population.

In Islam, drinking alcohol is prohibited because it is “sharaab” or “water that induces indecency” and is habit forming and is something that is not necessary to life – based on the same principle, meat in today’s context is extremely habit forming and not at all required as there are other options available – so why Muslims should not denounce meat in total and live the spirit of Islam!

This photograph (Photo © Jaagruti) was clicked by us a few years back while walking through the narrow by lanes of Chawri Bazaar in Old Delhi. It shows one one of the goats that was due to be sacrificed during the course of Bakr-Id, that was to follow shortly. When I asked Faizan with curiosity, what was his opinion on religious scarifices of animals like this goat, during Bakr-Eid, Faizan shared, "with regards to the sacrifice of animals on Bakra Eid, let me tell you that Allah doesn't require us to sacrifice a Bakra or any living being at all, it is the mutilation of religion and has become more of a status symbol. The spirit of that particular eid is about sacrificing what you love the most and obviously that has lost its significance in present times where religion has become more of consumerism."

This photograph (Photo © Jaagruti) was clicked by us a few years back while walking through the narrow by lanes of Chawri Bazaar in Old Delhi. It shows one one of the goats that was due to be sacrificed during the course of Bakr-Id, that was to follow shortly. When I asked Faizan with curiosity, what was his opinion on religious scarifices of animals like this goat, during Bakr-Eid, Faizan shared, “with regards to the sacrifice of animals on Bakra Eid, let me tell you that Allah doesn’t require us to sacrifice a Bakra or any living being at all, it is the mutilation of religion and has become more of a status symbol. The spirit of that particular eid is about sacrificing what you love the most and obviously that has lost its significance in present times where religion has become more of consumerism.”

Is it so hard for us to stop eating meat because it has become a habit; is it stronger than the urge to be righteous? Has it become bigger that the religion itself?

I know by writing this I must have disturbed many Muslims, but that is what I meant to do, so that the next time when you have your juicy chicken breast, roasted lamb, steaks or veal, biryani or qorma, roghan josh or stew, kebabs or liver fry.. you take a moment to think that it is coming from one of the murder houses which just made a profit running in billions at the cost of your ignorance about your own religion and you are still happy about it.

This is the time to think again and be a rightful Muslim…. Not eating meat will not kill you however you will save a life somewhere.

Ignorance is a crime, seek knowledge and be an informed and compassionate being that is what we ought to be – all of us!

With love for all….

Faizan Vegan J

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Do-it-Yourself (DIY) Series-4: A Dossier of Indian Street Dog related laws and court rulings- Read, Print and Share widely

To all those who feed and take care of their neighbourhood street dogs in India, we have one request. Don’t feel weak. The laws are on your side and also in favour of the street dogs you care for.

In this post, we are sharing with you one comprehensive document that compiles all the laws, news-clippings and court orders/rulings, pertaining to street dogs

Please download this document by clicking here: A Dossier of Indian Street Dog related laws and court rulings

Save it, take print-outs and read it well.

These are updated laws, rules, orders pertaining to DOGS, their feeding and other rights. Most dog lovers don’t bother to read them and end up getting harassed while the law is strong and clear. Please keep a copy ready and if possible submit one copy in your local police station and the RWA, so unfortunate encounters can be averted beforehand. 

A point wise synopsis is also written in the beginning of this document.

We thank Citizens for Animal Rights for their effort in compiling this document and sharing the same with us. By posting it here, we are sharing it further and hope you all will share it widely too and feel empowered.

Remember: Your responsibility however doesn’t end with just feeding them, please also ensure that these dogs you care for are sterilized and vaccinated…since you are friendly with them, can touch them, it is much easier for you to collaborate with the NGO run Animal Hospital (that runs the local Municipality supported ‘Animal Birth Control’ Programme for street dogs) near your home to help undertake the sterilization of these dogs, it is just a one time exercise and will prevent you the agony of seeing pups dying (of illnesses and car accidents) in front of your eyes ever so frequently.

Do-it-Yourself (DIY) Series-2: Educating your Residential Society on the scientific and lawful manner of dealing with street dogs

This template letter on Google Docs is kind courtesy of the Voice of Stray Dogs, Bangalore and makes for a good resource material for those of you trying to educate their own residential societies (RWAs i.e. Resident Welfare Associations) on the best possible legally correct, scientific and humane way of dealing with the ‘subject’ of street dogs in their colonies.

How to do this yourself?

Firstly, read these two articles to best understand the Rights of Street Dogs in India and the Delhi High Court rulings on the subject of feeding street Dogs, then save the images and the PDF Files embedded in these articles on to your computer, take a print out of these saved files and attach it as annexures to the above letter that you would draft and address to the concerned person in your RWA, seal the letter and send it across through courier or registered post, keep a photocopy of the same set with you. Be strong and fight it out intelligently, the laws are on your side and the dogs, just use your wisdom and intellect to drive the point across to the ‘uninformed’.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions on the above subject (kind courtesy of People for Animals):

Q) Can people who feed animals in their areas be stopped by the RWAs or Societies or neighbours under the law ?

A) Article 51A of the Constitutional Law of India, speaks about the duties of every citizen of India. One of these duties includes having compassion for living creatures. So the animal lover is protected under the Constitution.

Article 19 of the Constitution of India, deals with right to freedom and in this freedom comes the right to profession, occupation, trade and business. Therefore, it means that every citizen has the right to occupation and if someone has taken the caring of animals as his occupation, it is legal and he has every right to carry on with  his occupation.

Article 21 of the Constitution of India states the right to personal life and liberty. Now this is the very vast right. If someone wants to feed dogs and provides shelter to the dogs, he has every liberty to do so. He has this right to liberty that the law provides to every citizen of India.

But, above every law and rights, there is a natural right too, which is a universal right, that is inherent in the nature of ethics and contingent on human actions or beliefs. It is the right that is claimed to exist even when it is not enforced by the government or society as a whole. It is the right of the individual and considered beyond the authority of a government or international body to dismiss. Therefore, if there are any rights at all, there must be right to liberty, for all the others depend on this. And, loving, caring and feeding and giving shelter to dogs, definitely is a natural right of any individual.

In a judgment passed by the Delhi Court, it has been stated that the Animal Welfare Board of India and the Municipal authorities have in the guidelines issued by them specified the problem often faced by the individuals and families who adopts stray animals and feed them and come to the assistance of such persons. The court says, that it is necessary to bring into record that these individuals and families who adopt stray animals are doing a great service to the humanity as they are acting in the aid and assistance of municipal authorities by providing these animals with food and shelter and also by getting them vaccinated and sterilized. Without assistance of such persons no local municipal authority can successfully carry out its ABC programs. The court has went on to say that the local police and the municipal authorities are under the obligation not only to encourage such adoption but also to ensure that such persons who come forward to take care of these animals specifically the community or neighbourhood dogs so that they are not subjected to any kind of cruelty.

And finally, the court has said that every individual has a right to live his life in the manner he wants and it is necessary that the society and the community recognizes it.

Q) Can an RWA/Society or any individual pick up the dogs in a colony that are sterilized and vaccinated and throw them away somewhere

A) Under the Government of India Animal Birth Control rules 2001 , no sterilized dogs can be relocated  from their area. Under 5 High Court orders , sterilized dogs have to be in their original areas. Even if the dog is not sterilized , the Society can simply ask an animal welfare organization to sterilize and vaccinate the dog. They cannot relocate him. Relocation is not permissible as it would cause more problems such as increase of dog bites as dogs are territorial by nature and fight to retain their areas keeping out other dogs.
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If you’re different from the crowd, be proud of it

A few weeks back, someone happened to share with us the following article over an e-mail, the reason we are sharing it here is because we also get asked such questions repeatedly, by the people whom we interact professionally or personally, the most common of them being Why do you work for animals, when there are so many suffering humans around?

Also when we attend to animal-issues specific calls on the Jaagruti helpline, some callers often try to argue with us on the subject saying, ‘human lives are more precious than animals, Madam!’

This article, kind courtesy of OpEd News by Dr. Charles Patterson, author of Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust makes for an inspiring read for people like us, and also tries to address those who question people like us who dare and care to be different in their own quiet ways to make a difference to the animals around them and the humans who care for them.

“Against the Current”

How often have you heard complaints that animal activists are misguided and have misplaced priorities? The implication is that people who care about animals are disrespectful of or even hostile to human values, the oppression of animals being the oldest and most strongly defended human prerogative. Critics ask, how can the interests of animals in any way be as important as human problems like war, poverty, disease, hunger, AIDS, racism, genocide?

Those who claim that the lives of animals are of little or no importance reflect the deep-seated speciesism of our society. They defend the status quo of human supremacy as strongly as the supporters of slavery and white supremacy used to claim that the lives and well-being of slaves were of little or no importance.

Another deep-seated conviction of our society is that when it comes to animals, might makes right. The late AIDS and animal activist, Steven Simmons, described the attitude: “Animals are the innocent casualties of the world view that asserts that some lives are more valuable than others, that the powerful are entitled to exploit the powerless, and that the weak must be sacrificed for the greater good.”

This is, of course, fascism pure and simple. Indeed, it was Mr. Fascism himself, Adolph Hitler, who stated the matter directly: “He, who does not possess power, loses the right to life.” How ironic that Hitler’s view is now flourishing in the United States where millions of cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and other innocent animals are killed every day because they are powerless to defend themselves against the might of the master species.

The great divide between humans and the rest of the earth’s inhabitants began about 11,000 years ago in the Middle East with the so-called “domestication” of animals. The enslavement of oxen, sheep, goats and other animals quickly led to human slavery and the treatment of human slaves like animals. The enslavement of animals increased significantly the level of cruelty, oppression, and conflict in human history.

The vilification of other people as animals followed. Europeans called Native Americans beasts, wolves, and snakes, and Africans transported to the Americas to be sold into slavery were treated like domesticated animals. During World War II Americans described the Japanese as yellow monkeys, dogs, rats, and vermin to be exterminated.

The vilification of people as animals made it that much easier to kill them because most humans have been brain washed from an early age to have little regard for the lives of animals.

In the memoirs of Holocaust survivors, the constant refrain is “they treated us like animals.” Victims of the Nazis were transported to extermination camps in cattle cars and were killed in assembly-line fashion, much like animals are killed today in American slaughterhouses.

The grim but undeniable truth is that our civilization is built on the exploitation and slaughter of animals, and it is from this core oppression that all other atrocities flow. The abuse of animals and the destruction of the earth are the crux of what’s wrong with our society.

Those who advocate for animals and fight for their liberation, radicals in the best sense of the word, are attacking the roots of human oppression in the most direct and effective way. Thank goodness there are people willing to go right to the heart of the matter with their dedicated activism. Each and every one of them is a hero and will be judged as such from the hindsight of history.

I’m reminded of the observation that Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, made more than a century ago. “It’s a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong,” she said, “something the best people have always done.”

Don’t let anyone tell you that the life-and-death struggle for animals liberation against the fascist underpinnings of our society is anything other than a noble enterprise of the utmost urgency. Nothing is more important.

And don’t worry too much about complaints and criticism.

You will be going against the current of what society thinks, but so be it.

To quote the German poet Goethe, “The world only goes forward because of those who oppose it.”

 

About the author – Dr. Charles Patterson:

Dr. Charles Patterson is a social historian, Holocaust educator, editor, therapist, and author. His first book, Anti-Semitism: The Road to the Holocaust and Beyond, was called “important” by Publisher’s Weekly. The National Council for the Social Studies in Washington, D.C. presented Patterson with its Carter G. Woodson Book Award for his biography of Marian Anderson at a special luncheon at its annual convention in St. Louis, Missouri in 1989. His most recent book is Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust (now in 15 languages). For more information on his writings and activities, see his website.

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Can’t remove Pets or harass those who feed street animals, Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon tells RWAs

In the recent past, the Helpline at Jaagruti has received many calls from a lot of street dog lovers/pet owners in Gurgaon on the subject of their respective Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) barring them from keeping pets or feeding street dogs or fining them etc., and we have directed them to take a stance against their respective RWAs taking inspiration from the content posted on this article of ours.

Taking notice of many such animal lovers rising up in unison, the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon has taken an informed proactive stance on the matter and dispatched a stern letter to all such RWA office bearers on the adamance, arrogance and above all IGNORANCE being shown by their respective RWA office bearers on this subject, by coming out with warnings and society bye-laws that are in strict contravention to all the national laws.

We appreciate the position taken by Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon on this subject.

To all of these concerned compassionate people worried about the street animals and the pets they love, feed and take care off, the recent news in the Times of India comes as a welcome relief. Please read on.

Can’t remove Pets, Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon to RWAs

By Aditya Dev, TNN, 6th Nov 2012

GURGAON: Even as the management bodies of residential societies are making their own rules for keeping pets, the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) has written to various residents’ welfare associations warning them not to formulate rules and regulations regarding pets and that any such move is in conflict with the law. Such a move may lead to dissolution of the RWA and prosecution of its office bearers, says the letter.

The managing committee Kanchunjunga Cooperative Group Housing Society in Sector 56 had last year imposed a ban on its residents keeping pets. The Close North (Nirvana Country) management also recently banned flat owners from using elevators to take out pets and instructed them to use service elevators instead.

The corporation sent letters to RWAs this February following incidents of cruelty against animals by RWAs, their office bearers and residents were reported. It also came to light that a few RWAs attempted to prevent pet ownership through stipulations in terms of their rental or ownership agreement, threatening pet owners with electricity and water cut offs.

If any rule laid down by anybody is in conflict with the law of the urban local body, state body or central body it is automatically superseded and rendered null and void. The letter says that an RWA threatening discontinuation of basic facilities is illegal.

It is illegal to remove animals from the area through security guards employed by RWAs. Nor can they intimidate residents who may be feeding those animals. Under stray dog management rules 2001, it’s illegal for an individual, RWA or estate management to remove or relocate dogs. The dogs have to be sterilized and vaccinated and returned to the same area. Vaccinated and sterilized dogs cannot be removed by the municipality too.

Under Section 506 of the IPC, it’s a crime to threaten, abuse or harass neighbours who feed animals.

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Residential Societies can’t ban people from having Pet Animals

Over the past many months, Jaagruti’s helpline has been inundated with calls and queries from people across many major Indian cities, like Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and other metros where RWAs or Residential Welfare Associations that are formed in various societies have come up with ‘no pet clauses’ and are forcing residents therein to abandon their pets! This post is to apprise you all that ‘RWAs cannot come with such clauses which are both unconstitutional and unlawful.

Please click on the link below to download the notice that was sent to a society in Gurgaon sometime back by a team of well-respected lawyers. If you are facing a similar issue, then take guidance from the text mentioned therein and with the help of a competent advocate/law firm/your very own lawyer friends – get a similar notice drafted and get it sent across to the Office Bearers in your Housing Society. If they don’t get the point on reading your notice, drag them to the Consumer Courts. Remember that all those who have taken this step have won the case and so have their pets and dogs!

Click, Download and Read: Notice issued by respected law firm in Delhi to Kanchanjunga Coop.Group Housing Society in Gurgaon that was asking residents to abandon their pets

Also, read the below pasted Times of India article dated 24th May 2012 and spread it around!

Housing societies can’t prohibit pets, say legal eagles

By Journalist named Swati Deshpande

MUMBAI: Pet owners need not worry. Senior advocates say that housing societies cannot introduce by-laws to prohibit residents from keeping pets in their flats.The Maharashtra Cooperative Housing Societies Act does not prohibit members from keeping pets and no society can pass by-laws to ban pets or families with pets from society premises.

Mulraj Shah, a lawyer, says a cooperative housing society may-by majority vote- make a by-law against pet ownership, but that is only on the valid grounds of continuous nuisance created by such pets. Even such a resolution may not be binding on occupants as it would have to be tested for legality in court, said a constitutional law expert practising at Bombay high court.

In the past, courts have ruled in favour of pet owners. A housing society in Navi Mumbai was fined for having restrained a family pet from using the lift. The Thane consumer court in 2008 imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 and held that the society’s decision to prevent pets from using the lift without any valid reason amounted to “deficiency in service”. A family residing in a housing society is a “consumer” under the law.

In another important ruling in December 2010, a consumer forum in Mumbai Central ordered a housing society in Mahim to stop charging a family an additional Rs 500 for each of its pet dogs, which it said was illegal and directed that the amounts already collected be returned. Societies have a right to make rules for the benefit of its members but the law has to be reasonable and not impinge an individual’s fundamental freedoms and right to life, said lawyers.

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Tail docking banned in India by Veterinary Council

Earlier this year, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) had issued a circular asking different bodies, individuals to ban tail docking and ear clipping by vets for cosmetic purposes.
The Veterinary Council of India (VCI)  has now officially notified the same in their bye laws.

Letter issued by Veterinary Council of India banning tail docking throughout India

So in case you find any Veterinary Doctor/Vet, anywhere in India practicing this cruel method, kind inform the Veterinary Council of India and AWBI so that the same may be stopped.
This is applicable all over India and it is upto the pet owners and animal lovers to make sure that vets don’t do this any further.
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You didn’t even say goodbye :'(

Courtesy: This poem made its way into our inbox someway through this link of Meigs Co Dog Shelter, whom we hereby credit for penning this down.

Please share this poem with anyone who has abandoned or is thinking of abandoning their pet. It may make them think atleast once over the most painful act they will ever commit in their life…

 “Woof”!

 I said as you started the car,
“Hooray!” I said, it’s my first time afar.
The scents we were passing were all new to me,
For it was my first introduction to this mystery.
As we got out of the car I embraced you with joy,
After all you remembered to bring my favourite toy!
You threw it once or twice, of which I retrieved,
But on the third it seemed you were ready to leave.
You threw it long and hard and I chased it like lightning,
But when I turned to bring it back I saw a sight quite frightening.
I gripped my toy hard as I tried to comprehend
What it was I did wrong to make our relationship end.
You walked back to your car as I sat there still loyal.
Why am I subservient and you so royal?
Your engine started, and you peeled out into the night,
You didn’t even care about my overwhelming fright.
As I sat in my pose determined you would come back,
The sun faded behind me while the surroundings turned black.
Day after day I stayed in that park,
Lying… waiting… too feeble to bark.
As I lay there dying thinking of you master,
I asked myself how I got into this horrifying disaster.
With my last breath of life, I whispered your name
Then I collapsed in a heap overrun by pain.
Why didn’t you love me master? Why didn’t you care?
Had I no significance, was I just a clump of hair?
I stayed there master and I waited for you
I guess taking care of me was just too much to do.
I’m gone now master, no more You-and-I
But what I can’t figure out is why you didn’t even say goodbye…

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In defense of the street dogs of Kashmir

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/jkmassculling/
 
Dr. Asgar Samoon, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, had issued orders in March 2011 to kill all street dogs of Kashmir.

A qualified veterinarian, he has admitted to the Animal Welfare Board  of India, to requesting the ‘public’ to identify rabid dogs !

He obviously hasn’t let his veterinary knowledge come in his way. Carnage is reported to be occurring in Kashmir everywhere. Dogs are being poisoned and killed brutally in the name of rabies which is nowhere to be found or identified.
Mass graves are being dug and dogs being dumped into that. Any neighbour who has a grudge against another with a pet has now the licence to kill that pet dog.

Animal activists have demanded suspension of the Divisional Commissioner and appealed to the Veterinary Council of India to revoke his licence as he is not fit to be a vet. If you support this, please write to:
 
VETERINARY COUNCIL OF INDIA
A statutory body of Government of India established
under the Indian Veterinary Council Act 1984.
A-Wing, 2nd Floor, August Kranti Bhawan
Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi – 110066
Phone: 011-26184149, 26184354 Fax: 011-26182434
Email vciinfo@vhub.nic.in
 
 
AWBI has also send notice to Dr. Samoon which is attached here.

Below are presented a series of articles that explan why Kashmir needs its street dogs…in a state which has been marred by violence, bloodshed and terrorism all these years, this state provoked bloodshed of innocent animals will only bring in more misery to the state. Read on..

Article in Greater Kashmir

Srinagar needs its street dogs. Here’s why …

Other opinion by Lisa Warden

Do you consider street dogs to be a barking, snarling, stinking menace? Do you wish they would all just get hauled off somewhere and be made to disappear? Perhaps you’re even one of the many people who support the poisoning of dogs. If so, then you are doing yourself and your family a distinct disservice. This is why:

People still die every year in India from rabies, the majority of those due to bites from infected dogs. Death from rabies is completely preventable; it’s a disease that has been eradicated in many parts of the world. Ironically, the best defense against rabies is not the absence of dogs, but their presence – the presence of vaccinated dogs, that is. Dogs that have been vaccinated against rabies actually serve to protect the human inhabitants of their neighborhoods from the disease.

How? Simple. Dogs are territorial creatures. They do not allow new dogs to migrate into their areas. If, in addition to anti-rabies vaccination, the dogs have been sterilized, they will not reproduce, and the dog population in your area will decrease naturally over time. The average life expectancy of a dog in urban India is only 3.4 years.

 The killing of dogs does not work as a population control policy. It has never worked anywhere in the world that it has been undertaken, even when the numbers of dogs killed are in the tens of thousands. This is because dogs are so fertile that they simply repopulate the existing habitat in the subsequent breeding season.

 Furthermore, in cities like Srinagar, where public sanitation is still a work in progress and there is ample garbage lying around, dogs perform an essential service, that of waste processing. Garbage is habitat. If there are no dogs in a place with lots of uncollected waste, nature will fill the vacuum with some other scavenger, inevitably one that is more problematic in its relationship to humans. Take what happened in Surat in 1994. The municipal authority made the decision to kill thousands of dogs. Cause led to effect: the rat population, all of a sudden blessed with a massive increase in available food (garbage), and thousands fewer predators (dogs), exploded. Bubonic plague eventually arrived on the scene, and hundreds of people were infected. Fifty-seven people died.

Are dogs ever a menace? Yes, and those that engage in bonafide, unprovoked, biting attacks on humans need to be removed from the population. This needs to be done by qualified animal welfare workers. However, the two most significant factors that result in dog bites – migration and mating – are actually exacerbated by killing or removing dogs, and failing miserably at the sterilization project.

Let me reiterate, if Kashmiris are serious about addressing the “dog menace” in their cities, killing dogs categorically will not work. This has been proven time and again the world over. The only solution that has been scientifically proven to eradicate rabies and decrease the street dog population has been large-scale sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination. Further, it is essential to the success of any intervention that the dogs be put back in their original locations following sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination.

 Whether you love dogs or hate them, it is in your best interests to let your neighborhood dogs live in peace exactly where they are. You just need to ensure your municipal authority does its duty by sterilizing and vaccinating those dogs. Things will not get better until 75 per cent of the street dog population of Srinagar has been sterilized, vaccinated against rabies and left in peace, and until the municipal authority implements proper waste management reform.

 (The author Lisa Warden is founder and director of DOGSTOP, a non-profit advisory group dedicated to rabies eradication and street dog population management in India. She also serves as advisor to ABC India, a pan-Indian organization devoted to the control of street dog populations throughout the country via large-scale sterilization and anti-rabies vaccination.)

Article in The Pioneer

Mass killing of loC that guard Kashmir

By Hiranmay Karlekar

The slaughter of street dogs in the Kashmir Valley calls for a full inquiry. The hapless animals served as watchdogs for the Army against infiltrators crossing the LoC and alerted security forces whenever danger was afoot.

The reported mass killing of stray dogs in Srinagar merits a serious probe. On September 22, 2009, a report in The Times of India by Ajay Sura had stated that stray dogs had become watchdogs for the Army against infiltrators crossing the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir. The report quoted Lt-Col NK Airy, spokesperson for the Army’s Tenth Division, as saying that these dogs recognised troops and local civilians and started barking whenever there was any movement of strangers. They were quick to train, easy to maintain, did not take a huge amount to procure and could not be recognised by the infiltrators as Army dogs.

Many Army officers have testified to the invaluable role of such dogs. One of them is Mr Habib Rehman, who began life in the Army and retired as the head of a well-known hotel chain. In his touching book, A Home for Gori, about a dog who adopted his family and became a deeply-loved member, he narrates how his love for dogs was awakened by his acquaintance with Bullet, which he made as a Second-Lieutenant posted in what is now Arunachal Pradesh. Every Army picket from the LoC in the north-west to Arunachal Pradesh in the north-east, had a dog like Bullet, a mongrel of Bhutia origin of the kind found all along the Himalayan ranges, as an additional member, rendering signal service in alerting it to an enemy’s approach and any other threats. A deep bond invariably develops between such canines and Army personnel.

In an article entitled The dog that did India proud in The Pioneer of March 24, 2007, Major-General Ashok Mehta (Retd) wrote fondly about Krupa, a Bakerwal puppy, who was picked up in 1963 and lovingly reared by a unit of the Gorkha Rifles serving along the LoC, then called the Ceasefire Line. Krupa did yeoman service not only with it but also the Sikh and Garhwal regiments that followed

Law enforcing authorities everywhere have acknowledged the important role played by stray dogs. As Director-General of Police, Andhra Pradesh, Mr Swaranjit Sen had advised police stations to adopt stray dogs for being alerted against approaching Maoists. Not surprisingly, Maoists in West Bengal had asked villagers to kill all village dogs. Even earlier, terrorists coming across the Line of Control had asked villagers close to it to kill their dogs; so had terrorists in Punjab.

The point in mentioning all this is the recent report in several newspapers of Sajjad Afghani, an important leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad, being killed along with this bodyguard, Omar Bilal, by the Jammu & Kashmir Police in an encounter on March 10. The reports quoted Mr RM Sahai, Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, as saying that they were trying to set up a base in Srinagar “to carry out big strikes in the future on security force installations”. Was the killing of stray dogs meant to facilitate the strikes? The matter needs to be investigated because of the State Government’s shocking delay in entering into a partnership with the Animal Welfare Board of India in implementing the canine Animal Birth Control programme, the only effective means of controlling stray dog populations.

Terrorists have reason to oppose the programme which involves the neutering and vaccination (against rabies) of stray dogs and their return to where they had been picked up from. Implemented area-wise, it is calculated to taper off a city or State’s stray dog population as the neutered and vaccinated dogs live out their life-spans. This means that they will continue to remain in their areas for some years and continue to alert security forces to the approach of terrorists who, one hopes, would be routed by the time the dogs live out their biological life-spans.

On the other hand, as the Guidelines for Dog Population Management, jointly released by the World Health Organisation and the World Society for the Protection of Animals in 1990, killing never succeeds in providing a solution. What it can do, however, is a temporary reduction of stray dog populations in specific areas and thus help terrorist strikes. Is this the reason why some in Jammu & Kashmir oppose the implementation of the ABC programme and favour killing? If so, who are they? One needs to find out.

Article in The Pioneer

Stray dogs alert terrorists’ approach

By Hiranmay Karlekar

As several authorities cite that stray dogs warn of approaching terrorists, there is every possibility that terrorists are orchestrating not only a mass hysteria against stray dogs in Kashmir but also the demand for their killing

A report in Greater Kashmir of April 21, 2011, states, “The police top brass (on) Wednesday dispelled the notion given by some media agencies that the elimination of stray dogs would facilitate a rise in militancy”. The report did not mention the name of the agencies but carried quotes from my column in The Pioneer of 17 March on the mass killing of stray dogs in Srinagar, which clearly indicated that the reference was to the latter. The report further quoted a Deputy Inspector General of Jammu & Kashmir Police as saying that there was no relationship between stray dog populations and militancy, which were altogether different issues. It quoted the DIG, who described “dog menace” as a big issue”, as saying that it was for bodies like the Srinagar Municipal Corporation to “get rid of the problem.” The police was ready to help them in whatever way they wanted.

I will begin with reference to my column. The part of it which referred to terrorism in Kashmir, mentioned among other things, media accounts of the death of a JeM militant and his driver in an encounter with the police on March 10, and added, “The reports quoted Mr RM Sahai, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, as saying that they were trying to set up a base in Srinagar ‘to carry out big strikes in the future on security force installations.’ Was the killing of stray dogs meant to facilitate the strikes?” Clearly, I was referring to efforts to set up bases to carry out big strikes and not, repeat not, increasing militancy. The two are entirely different things.

A terrorist strike is a single act. It is a part of militancy, which is a complex and wider phenomenon. At one level, militancy is the state of mind which is a blend of alienation, anger and aggression, prone to explode in violence. Since violence is an expression of militancy, the latter at the social context connotes a situation created by violence and the aggression associated with militancy. An increase in militancy means a rise in the incidence of militancy-related violence and the number of militants, as well as the spread and intensification of the aggressive mindset associated with militancy.

A single terrorist strike — or several strikes — however severe, need not indicate increasing militancy if more strikes do not follow. It is easier to organise a single or a couple of terrorist strikes than sustaining an increase in the level of militancy which requires the establishment of an infrastructure for procuring funds, arms, ammunition, explosives and the provision of electronic communication facilities through emails, phones and so on. It also requires propaganda for the militants’ cause, recruitment, training and indoctrination of terrorists and the organisation of shelters, false travel and identification documents, and storage of arms, explosives and so on. Nine-eleven in the United States and 7/11 (attacks on London’ underground subway system) in 2005 sent shockwaves throughout the world but did not lead to rising level of militancy in America and Britain.

Surprise is critical to the success of terrorist strikes. It can be neutralised by an efficient intelligence set-up which collects advance information and pre-empts terror strikes and destroys terrorists’ infrastructure. Equally, a strike can be neutralised if an alert is sounded as terrorists approach their target, enabling the security forces to repulse them. As several authorities cited in my column aver, stray dogs sound precisely such an alert. There is, therefore, every possibility that terrorists are orchestrating not only a mass hysteria against stray dogs in Kashmir but also the demand for their killing.

It is possible that the reporter, who did not understand what I had written, had also failed to understand what the DIG had said. If, however, the latter did say what he reportedly has, then he has betrayed a very narrow and conventional approach to counter-terrorism which ignores the complex and mutli-dimensional nature of the challenge. Referring to terrorism in India, Maj-Gen (Retd) Afsir Karim writes in his contribution entitled “Terrorism: the Indian Experience”, in Confronting Terrorism edited by Mr Maroof Raza, “The challenges of internal destabilisation, subversion, creation of administrative and economic chaos, and engineering divisions among diverse socio-political and ethnic groups cannot be met by conventional responses.” No further comments.

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Cruelty to animals has serious repercussion

Courtesy: The Pioneer

By Hiranmay Karlekar

Research shows that cruelty to animals often transmogrifies into criminal misdeeds and adds to a city’s list of crimes. The new Commissioner of Delhi Police would do well to crack down on those who treat animals without compassion.

The new Commissioner of Delhi Police, Mr BK Gupta, doubtless has a host of problems on his plate, including coping with terrorism and keeping the crime rate down when sociological, cultural and economic factors combine with the national capital’s peculiar location to push it upward. Nevertheless, an area which requires urgent attention is cruelty to animals.

Though the Delhi Police has been somewhat sensitised in the matter over the last few years, much still remains to be done. It continues to show a tendency not to take complaints of cruelty to animals seriously. In a recent instance in Mukherjee Nagar, north Delhi, an FIR against people accused of brutally beating a stray dog to death was reportedly registered only after intervention by those who matter.

Navbharat Times_28 February 2011

 

Hindustan Times_28 February 2011

The tendency towards ‘burking’ (doctoring of crime figures through non-registration of FIRs or recording offences as less severe), which policemen display everywhere, is more evident in the case of animals.

The need for a change in the police’s approach to complaints of cruelty to animals is urgent because animals have right to live safely and happily and human beings, the most advanced and evolved of all living species, have a responsibility to ensure that they do so. It is also important because instances of people going scot free after violations of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960, increases the tendency toward taking laws in general lightly, which is increasingly in evidence today. Equally significant, cruelty toward animals is indicative of aggression or latent or active criminality in a person and identification of such an individual and keeping him or her under surveillance is important for any police force.

Violent criminals tend to be cruel to both humans and animals. In their paper, ‘From Animal Cruelty to Serial Murder: Applying the Graduation Hypothesis’ (The International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology), Jeremy Wright and Christopher Hensley write that since the late-1970s, the FBI has considered animal cruelty as a possible indicator of future serial murder.

“The FBI documented the connection between cruelty to animals and serial murder following a study of 35 imprisoned serial murderers. The convicted murders were asked questions regarding their childhood cruelty toward animals. More than half of the serial murderers admitted to hurting or torturing animals as children or adolescents (Humane Society of the United States, 2001).”

They further point out that in 1987, animal cruelty was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III (R) as a symptom of conduct disorder and was retained in the 1994 DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association 1987, 1994). According to DSM-IIIR and DSM-IV description of conduct disorders, it commonly involves physical violence and harm to humans and animals.

In another paper entitled ‘Childhood Cruelty to Animals and Subsequent Cruelty to Humans’ (The International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology), Linda Merz-Perez, Kathleen M Heide, and Ira J Silverman write that cruelty to animals has long served as “a red flag in law enforcement circles with respect to extremely violent offenders” and state that “the expansive literature with respect to serial killers has often cited cruelty to animals as a precursor to the violence later targeted against human victims (Lockwood & Church, 1998)”.

They conclude that the study’s overall results support previous research efforts indicating “a relationship between cruelty to animals committed during childhood and later violence perpetrated against humans.”

Noting that the matter is complex, the authors say that cruelty to animals in children can provide insights into violent behaviour that may or may not translate later into violence against human beings and that cruelty to animals often reveal insightful analogies to violence against human beings. They cite the example of a “violent offender, a repeat sex offender” who had been “convicted of a crime against nature for sodomising a reformatory pig” and another, “convicted of sexual batter on a person 65 years or older”, described how he would throw stones at stray animals to “beat and hurt them as my parents hurt me”.

Prompt and effective action regarding offences affecting animals should, therefore, be considered a critical and integral part of policing. Mr BK Gupta would make a signal contribution to enhancing citizens’ security in Delhi if he can impress this on his force.

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Priya, Dog breeding and the Income Tax Department

On a visit to an animal shelter a few weeks back, we met Priya, a female great Dane who was found abandoned on the road side by an animal ambulance. She was suffering from a tumour- a seemingly malignant one. Looking at her condition, it was quite evident that she was chucked out by a Dog breeder when she was no longer ‘a machine’ of use to him in his ‘puppy farm/factory’, i.e. ‘factories run by greedy humans in which female pedigreed dogs are repeatedly mated and bred so that they could give birth to puppies that can be sold at handsome rates’ and fill in the coffers of these ‘dog breeders’!

Photo copyright: 'Jaagruti'
Priya, a Female Great Dane abandoned by a Dog breeder to die on the streets- Her eyes say it all! Photo Copyright – ‘Jaagruti’ 

So, when dogs like Priya are no longer able to produce babies or turn sick beyond cure, these people who had over the years exploited her to give birth to pups repeatedly find her a burden and cose thereby to dump her on the roadside!

For a peep into the horrendous puppy mill trade, please look at the video below.

So, Next time you wish to adopt a dog, adopt for an Indian dog on the street or adopt one from a nearby shelter. Please do not buy a puppy ever because demands create supplies!

Remember ADOPT, Dont BUY!

Dog breeding in India is an unregulated business in alomost every city, a business that brings in huge profits to those who do it, be it big breeders carying this out in their farms, dog trainers who carry it out on their roofs atop their shanty quarters in areas like Dwarka Mod, Palam and across many such habitations in Delhi or even those who carry it out in their houses next doors to yours by repeatedly getting their pet dogs to mate and breed.

That is why news items like the ones below come as a breath of hope!

Income Tax Department issues directive to keep tabs on all breeders who sell newborn puppies for huge profit (Source: Mid Day, 23rd March 2011)

The Rs 500-crore pet dog business has come under the scanner of the Income Tax department.

The I-T department headquarters, New Delhi, has issued fresh directives to all its regional offices to keep tabs on all dog breeders who sell newborn puppies for huge profits.

All pet shops and known dog breeders are now under the surveillance of sleuths.

A senior I-T officer said, “Most canines of good lineage are sold at exorbitant prices and without any receipts. Some of the deals even run into crores.”

According to the I-T directive (copy available with MiD DAY), it has been noticed in recent years that pet shops have spread rampantly across the major cities.

These shops are technically licensed to sell animal food and accessories, but they also deal in canines and exotic birds to make a quick buck.

The order stated that it is suspected that a majority of these transactions are outside the tax net, so appropriate action should be taken against them.

Senior I-T officials, including Chief Commissioner P P Shrivastava, however, are tight-lipped about the directive and how they plan to crack down on the tax evaders.
 
According to I-T sources, the demand for exotic dogs increased after a cellular company used a pug in its advertisements.

According to sources, a 45-day-old pug is priced at more than Rs 40,000 in the open market.

Pet dealers at Crawford Market told MiD DAY that a Cocker Spaniel puppy is priced around Rs 7,000.
 
“Pet dealers are not sensitive to the health of the animals as they are more concerned about making money. Breeding is done regularly. This should be banned,” said Dr J C Khanna, member, Animal Welfare Board of India.

500 breeders

According to a modest estimate, there are more than 500 commercial dog breeders in Mumbai, Thane and Vasai. There are an estimated 7,000 such breeders across the country.

Dog breeding is a flourishing business in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Chennai as well. The turnover is estimated to be around Rs 500 crore.

The volume of the business can be gauged from the fact that even a fake certificate to prove the breed of canine fetches between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 on the streets of Mumbai. 

But, all dog breeders are not tax evaders. Mayur Shinde, owner of Shinde Kennel, Pune, said, “Dog breeding and selling is my full-time business. I give genuine receipts and also pay income tax regularly.”

Procedure to buy a puppy
Before buying a puppy, it is necessary to get a licence from the respective municipality. BMC charges only
Rs 100 as fees and Rs 200 for vaccine per year. The seller should be registered with the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).

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Animal Abuse-from F.I.R to Jail

We at Jaagruti had attended the ‘India for Animals’ 2011 conference held at Chennai from 29-31 January 2011, with the objective of sharing our learnings from the conference with the readers of this website as well as the many people who keep searching the internet for information on such topics and often end up being disappointed with the paucity of easily understandable information available online on subjects of animal welfare and laws for the common man who cares for animals on the street and empathizes with the suffering of animals. The information presented below will be useful for reporting cases and lodging F.I.Rs with police on issues other than animal abuse as well.

Mr. Ajay Marathe, an RTI Activist from Mumbai shares this important brochure titled, “First Information Report (F.I.R) and YOU’ prepared by the Commonwealth Human Rights initiative which provides answers to all the questions related to F.I.R’s that may cross our mind often. You can download this brochure by clicking here.

Below is a handout shared by Ms. Anjali Sharma (Advocate, Legal advisor and board member, Animal Welfare Board of India) and Inspector Ajaib Singh of Punjab Police in the workshop they had held on Day 2 of this conference titled, “Animal Abuse-F.I.R se Jail tak‘

WHAT IS AN FIR, AND WHO CAN LODGE AN FIR?

First Information Repot (FIR) is a written document prepared by the police when they receive information about the commission of cognizable offence.  It is generally a complaint lodged with the police by the victim of a cognizable offence, or by someone on his/her behalf.  Any one who knows about the commission of a cognizable offence, including a police officer who comes to know about the same, can lodge an FIR.

WHAT IS A COGNIZABLE OFFENCE?

A cognizable offence is one for which the police are authorized to start investigation on their own, and do not require any order from the court to do so. They are authorized to arrest without warrant.

WHAT IS A NON-COGNIZABLE OFFENCE?

A non-cognizable offence is an offence in which a police officer has no authority to arrest without warrant.  The police cannot investigate such an offence without the court’s permission.

THE POLICE MAY NOT INVESTIGATE A COMPLAINT AND REGISTER FIR IF:-

(i)              The case, in the opinion of the officer in charge of a police station, is not of serious nature;

(ii)            The police feel that there is not enough ground to investigate.

However, the police must record reasons for not conducting an investigation, and in the latter case, must also inform the complainant.

HOW SHOULD YOU GO ABOUT LODGING AN FIR?

i)                Inform the officer in charge of the concerned police station, either orally, or in writing, regarding the commission of the offence ;

ii)              When information about the commission of a cognizable offence is given orally, the police must write it down ;

iii)            It is your right as the person giving information regarding the commission of an offence to demand that the information recorded by the police be read over to you.

iv)             You should sign the report only after verifying that the information recorded by the police is as per the details given by you.

v)               Always ask for a copy of the FIR, since it your right to get it free of cost.

WHAT SHOULD YOU MENTION IN YOUR COMPLAINT THAT YOU WANT REGISTERED AS AN FIR?

  • Your name and address;
  • Date, and time and the location at which the incident that you wish to report about, occurred;
  • An accurate description of the incident that you wish to report;
  • Names and descriptions of the persons involved in the incident.

WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOUR FIR IS NOT REGISTERED?

  • You can meet the Superintendent of Police or other higher officers like Deputy Inspector General of Police or Inspector General of Police, and bring your complaint to their notice.
  • You can send your complaint in writing and by post to the Superintendent of Police concerned.  If the Superintendent of Police is satisfied with your complaint, he shall either investigate the case himself or order an investigation to be made.
  • You can file a private complaint before the court having jurisdiction.

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THE POLICE ACT, 1861

An Act for the Regulation of Police

Preamble: – WHEREAS it is expedient to re-organise the police and to make it a more efficient instrument for the prevention and detection of crime; It is enacted as follows: –

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34. Punishment for certain offences on roads, etc:- Powers of police officers.-

Any person who, on any road or in any 2[open place or] street or thoroughfare within the limits of any town to which this section shall be specially extended by the State-Government, commits any of the following offences, to the obstruction, inconvenience, annoyance, risk, danger of damage of the 3[ residents or passengers] shall, on conviction before a Magistrate, be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty rupees, or to imprisonment 4[with or without hard labour] not exceeding eight days; and it shall be lawful for any police officer to take into custody; without a warrant, any person who, within his view, commitsany of such offences namely :-

First-Slaughtering cattle, Curious riding, etc:- Any person who slaughters any cattle or cleans any carcass; any person who rides or drives any cattle recklessly or furiously, or trains or breaks any horse or other cattle;

Second-Cruelty to animal:- Any person who wantonly or cruelly beats, abuses or tortures any animal; .

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THE DELHI POLICE ACT, 1978

An Act to amend and consolidate the law relating to the regulation of the police in the Union territory of Delhi.

It is to be noted that the Delhi Police act has a special chapter, i.e Chapter 9 devoted to empowering officials of Delhi Police with special powers over and above those mentioned in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 to enforce this act further

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CHAPTER IX (DELHI POLICE ACT): Special Powers under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960

73. Powers with regard to offences under Act 59 or 1960. (1) When in respect of an animal an offence punishable under sub-section (1) of Sec. 11 or Sec. 12 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 has been committed, when there is a reasonable ground for suspecting that such offence has been committed, a police officer may-

(a) take the animal to the Metropolitan Magistrate, or

(b) if the accused person so requires, take the animal to a veterinary officer specified by general or special order by the Administrator in this behalf:

Provided that the police officer may, instead of taking the animal to a veterinary officer, take the animal for detention in a dispensary, or in any suitable place approved by the Administrator by general or special order and the animal shall thereupon be detained there until its production before a Metropolitan Magistrate, or

(c) take the animal to an infirmary appointed under Sec. 35 of the said Act for treatment and detention thereto, pending direction of a Magistrate under sub-section (2) of that section, or

(d) when the animal is in such physical condition that it cannot be taken to a veterinary officer or a Metropolitan Magistrate, draw up a report of the condition of the animal in the presence of two or more respectable persons describing such wound, sores, fractures, bruises, or other marks of injury as may be found on the body of the animal:

Provided that the police officer may take the animal for detention in a dispensary or any suitable place approved by the Administrator by general or special order and the animal shall thereupon be detained there until its produce before a Metropolitan Magistrate.

(2) Where an animal is detained in a dispensary, infirmary or other place under sub-section (1), the animal shall be produced before a Metropolitan magistrate with the least possible delay and in any case within a period not exceeding three days from the date on which it was so detained.

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77. Power of police officer to unsaddle animal or to unload it. When a police officer in good faith suspects that any animal being employed, in any work or labour is, by reason of any sore, unfit to be so employed, he may require the  person  in  charge  of  such  animal  to

unsaddle or unload it for the purpose of ascertaining whether any sore exists and. if any person refuses to do so, such police officer may himself unsaddle or unload the animal or may cause the same to be unsaddled or unloaded.

78. Arrest without warrant in case of certain offences under Act 59 of 1960. Any police officer may arrest, without a warrant from a Magistrate, any person committing in his presence any offence punishable under clauses (a) to (m) (both inclusive) of sub-section (1) of Sec. 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

MADRAS CITY POLICE ACT, 1888

An Act to regulate the Police of the City of Madras.

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Section 24 – Police Officers and Agent of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals may arrest without warrant in view of offence

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other Law for the time being in force :-

(a) any offence made punishable by Sections 45, 46, 49-A, 72 or 75 shall be cognizable.

(b) any Police Officer may arrest without a warrant any person committing in his view any offence made punishable by this Act.

(2) Any agent of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals who is specially empowered by the State Government in that behalf may arrest without a warrant any person committing in his view any offence punishable under Section 53.

(3) The agent shall have power to release any person so arrested on his executing a bond with or without sureties, for his appearance before a Magistrate if and when required.

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Section 53 – Penalty for cruelty to animals

Whoever cruelly beats, ill-treats or tortures any animal, or causes any animal to be cruelly beaten, ill-treated or tortured, shall be liable on conviction to fine not exceeding one hundred rupees or to imprisonment, not exceeding three months, or to both.

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THE INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860

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Mischief by killing or maiming animal of the value of ten rupees.

428. Mischief by killing or maiming animal of the value of ten rupees.-Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animals or animal of the value of the ten rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Classification of Offence:- The offence under this section is cognizable, bailable, compoundable and triable by any Magistrate.

Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc., of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees.

429. Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc., of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees.–Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless, any elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox, whatever may be the value thereof, of any other animal of the value of fifty rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment or either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both.

Classification of Offence:- The offence under this section is cognizable, bailable, compoundable and triable by Magistrate of the first class.

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Negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substance.

284. Negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substance.–

Whoever does, with any poisonous substance, any act in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life, or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any person, or knowingly or negligently omits to take such order with any poisonous substance in his possession as is sufficient to guard against probable danger to human life from such poisonous substance, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

Classification of Offence:- The offence under this section is cognizable, bailable, triable by any Magistrate, and non-compoundable.

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THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ACT, 1960

Section 11. Treating animals cruelly : (1) If any person

(a) beats, kicks, over-rides, over-drives, over-loads, tortures or otherwise treats any animal so as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering or causes, or being the owner permits, any animal to be so treated; or

(b) 13(employs in any work or labour or for any purpose any animal which, by reason of its age or any disease) infirmity; wound, sore or other cause, is unfit to be so employed or, being the owner, permits any such unfit animal to be employed; or

(c) wilfully and unreasonably administers any injurious drug or injurious substance to 14(any animal) or wilfully and unreasonably causes or attempts tocause any such drug or substance to be taken by 15(any animal;) or

(d) conveys or carries, whether in or upon any vehicle or not, any animal in such a manner or position as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering; or

(e) keeps or confines any animal in any -cage or other receptacle which does not measure sufficiently in height, length and breadth to permit the animal a reasonable opportunity for movement; or

(f) keeps for an unreasonable time any animal chained or tethered upon an unreasonably short or unreasonably heavy chain or cord; or

(g) being the owner, neglects to exercise or cause to be exercised reasonably any dog habitually chained up or kept in close confinement; or

(h) being the owner of (any animal) fails to provide such animal with sufficient food, drink or shelter; or

(i) without reasonable cause, abandons any animal in circumstances which tender it likely that it will suffer pain by reason of starvation thirst; or

(j) wilfully permits any animal, of which he is the owner, to go at large in any street, while the animal is affected with contagious or infectious disease or, without reasonable excuse permits any diseased or disabled animal, of which he is the owner, to die in any street; or

(k) offers for sale or without reasonable cause, has in his possession any animal which is suffering pain by reason of mutilation, starvation, thirst, overcrowding or other illtreatment; or

(1) mutilates any animal or kills any animal (including stray dogs) by using the method of strychnine injections, in the heart or in any other unnecessarily cruel manner or;

(m) solely with a view to providing entertainment

(i) confines or causes to be confined any animal (including tying of an animal as a bait in a tiger or other sanctuary) so as to make it an object or prey for any other animal; or

(n) organises, keeps uses or acts in the management or, any place for animal fighting or for the purpose of baiting any animal or permits or offers any place to be so used or receives money for the admission of any other person to any place kept or used for any such purposes; or

(o) promotes or takes part in any shooting match or competition wherein animals are released from captivity for the purpose of such shooting:

he shall be punishable 19(in the case of a first offence, with fine which shall not be less than ten rupees but which may extend to fifty rupees and in the case of a second or subsequent offence committed within three years of the previous offence, with fine which shall not be less than twenty-five rupees but which may extend, to one hundred rupees or with imprisonment for a term which may extend, to three months, or with both.

(2) For the purposes of section (1) an owner shall be deemed to have committed an offence if he has failed to exercise reasonable care and supervision with a view to the prevention of such offence;

Provided that where an owner is convicted permitting cruelty by reason only of having failed to exercise such care and supervision, he shall not be liable to imprisonment without the option of a fine.

(3) Nothing in this section shall apply to –

(a) the dehorning of cattle, or the castration or branding or nose roping of any animal in the prescribed manner, or

(b) the destruction of stray dogs in lethal chambers by such other methods as may be prescribed, or (Note from ‘Jaagruti’: nothing is prescribed on this front under any laws or directives, humane sterilization of dogs is the only method advocated to control dog population and euthanasia can be administered to terminally ill and incurable animals only)

(c) the extermination or destruction of any animal under the authority of any law for the time being in force; or

(d) any matter dealt with in Chapter IV; or

(e) the commission or omission of any act in the course of the destruction or the preparation for destruction of any animal as food for mankind unless such destruction or preparation was accompanied by the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering.

12. Penalty for practising phooka or doom dev : If any persons upon any cow or other milch animal the operation called practising phooka or doom dev or any other operation (including injection of any or doom dev. substance) to improve lactation which is injurious to the health of the animal or permits such operation being performed upon any such animal in his possession or under his control, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with both, and the animal on which the operation was performed shall be forfeited to the Government.

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28. Saving as respects manner of killing prescribed by religion : Nothing contained in this Act shall render it an offence to kill any animal in a manner required by the religion of any community.

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38. Power to make rules. –

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(3) If any person contravenes, or abets the contravention of, any rules made under this section, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with both.

 

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TRANSPORT OF ANIMALS, RULES, 1978

In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (h) of sub-section (2) of Section 38 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (59 of 1960); the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, the same having been previously published as required by the said Section, namely :

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2. Definitions : In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires–

(a)       qualified veterinary surgeon means one who holds a diploma or a degree of a recognized veterinary college.

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96. Issue of certificate before transportation –

(1) A valid certificate issued by an officer or any person or Animal Welfare Organisation duly recognised and authorised for this purpose by the Animal Welfare Board of India or the Central Government shall be procured by any person making transport of any animal before transportation of such animal verifying that all the relevant Central and State Acts, rules and orders pertaining to the said animals including the rules relating to transport of such animals have been duly complied with and that the animal is not being transported for any purpose contrary to the provision of any law.

(2) In the absence of such certificate, the carrier shall refuse to accept the consignment for transport.

97. Cancellation of permit or authorisation for transport –

(1) In the event of contravention or non compliance of any of the rules contained in these rule for transport of animals, if it is pointed out in writing by any officer or persons or Animal Welfare Organisations authorised for this purpose by the Animal Welfare Board of India or the Central Government, then, any permit or authorisation issued for such transport shall be immediately cancelled by the concerned authority and it shall be the duty of the police to stop the further transport even from the intermediary station and proceed against the said offenders and deal with the animals in accordance with law.

(2) The custody of the animals immediately after unloading from the rail wagons, truck or any other vehicle shall be given to the authorised Animal Welfare Organisation if available, till the competent authority or the magistrate having jurisdiction decides about their care and upkeep.

98. General conditions of transport –

(1) Animals to be transported shall be healthy and in good condition and such animals shall be examined by a veterinary doctor for freedom from infectious diseases and their fitness to undertake the journey; provided that the nature and duration of the proposed journey shall be taken into account while deciding upon the degree of fitness.

(2) An animal which is unfit for transport shall not be transported and the animals who are new born, diseased, blind emaciated, lame, fatigued or having given birth during the preceding seventy two hours or likely to give birth during transport shall not be transported.

(3) Pregnant and very young animals shall not be mixed with other animals during transport.

(4) Different classes of animals shall be kept separately during transport.

(5) Diseased animals, whenever transported for treatment, shall not be mixed with other animals

(6) Troublesome animals shall be given tranquilisers before loading during transport.

(7) Animals shall be transported in their on-farm social groups (established atleast one week prior to journey).

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More articles on this subject and Animal laws of India can be accessed under the following category of posts on Jaagruti


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Kite flying…and birds dying: Understanding the connect + bird helplines in Mumbai, Baroda and Delhi

Credits: This article has been posted here thanks to the information circulated by Charu Shah through the Facebook Group ‘Awareness on  Kite Flying’, Neha Patel (from Baroda, Gujarat), Nilesh Bhanage (from PAWS Mumbai), Fauna Police (at Delhi) , Wildlife Rescue (at Delhi)

Every year, the festival of Makar Sankranti (falling this year on 14th January 2011) is celebrated with a lot of joy and cheer, but hardly few people know that this joy causes death to many innocent birds.

People use manja/kite string made of glass, so that the kites they fly don’t get cut easily and fly higher, but what they don’t realise is that the same threads responsible for killing a lot of birds every year while crippling others for life.
This glass manja (glass powder treated string or also called Chinese string/manja)gets entangled in the trees and cause death not only on that particular day, but for months after that.
The legs or wings of the birds that sit on those trees, have nests therein or fly past its branches get entangled in this manja, and stay there, sometimes hanging upside down for days …on end, bleeding, and dying a slow miserable death.The most common bird to fall prey to kite flying in the city of Delhi is ironically a raptor bird, known as Kite (to learn more about this, read this article till the end). 

Apart from regular birds like sparrows, pigeons, crows, some exotic birds, who have migrated from far off places across the world, also get entangled in the web of glass manjas and loose their lives.

Not to mention here that many humans also get their throats and fingers slit because of these manjas hanging lose all over the place.
So if possible, please celebrate the festival spreading cheer and not death! 

(Design Courtesy: Fauna POLICE)

Attached below are come contact numbers for bird rescue in Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Baroda (Gujarat).

All these numbers have been verified by Ahimsa in malad and by Charu Shah, so please forward this piece of information to all your contacts, and please try to save a life this year!

Please note that some of these people listed below may not have an ambulance service to come and take the injured bird, but YOU CAN (and should) definitely take an injured bird you spot to either of these people and request them to administer it medical treatment and take care of the bird until it is fit to fly again.

For injured birds in MUMBAI, please contact–
•Mr Jain (Borivali- takes care of injured birds,no pick up)- 28063705
Hiren Shah (Malad)- 9820271492
Ahimsa (Kandivali)- 288804195/ 9833962399
•D.K. (Malad/ Kandivali East)- 9820948506
•Jayesh (Malad/ Kandivali West)- 9702440194
•Rajesh Doshi (Goregaon/ Jogeshwari)- 9892465888
•Karuna (Parle)- 65151313/ 65141313/ 9819100100
•Manish Vora (Parle East)- 9819142001
•Nimit Vora (Parle East)- 9819133735
•Vimal Shah (Parle East)- 9821303057
•Sureshbhai (Parle West)- 26127035
•Sunil Shah (Santacruz/ Parle/ Andheri East)- 9821588894
•SPCA (Parel)- 24137518/ 24133598/ 24135285
•Manav Mandir (Worli Naka to Colaba)- 23080319
•WSD (Cuffe Parade to Mahim/ Sion)- 64222838
•Vardhaman Sanskar Dham (Ghatkopar/ Powai/ Vashi)- 65252573
•PAWS (Dombivali)- 25820571/ 9820161114/ 9869376238
•Thane SPCA (Thane)- 9322271966/ 32612344
•IDA (Deonar)- 32681418/ 9320056581
(Vashi)- 32681419 /9320056585
•Fire brigade- 101

More bird helpline numbers shared by Nilesh  Bhanage from PAWS–
PAWS Helpline – 9820161114 / 9920777536
Thane – Avinash Bhagat – 9892061899
Dombivli – Nilesh Bhanage – 9820161114
Kalyan – Samir Nevgi – 9930232710
Ulhasnagar – Neetu John – 8080208363

Bird Helpline Numbers in Vadodara (Gujarat) : 9377666964 , 9898693659 , 9925058137 , 9904716996

Why do so many Raptors get injured in Delhi because of kite strings?

 

Poster Courtesy: PAWS

 

 

 Delhi is one of the largest  producers of meat, as a result of which large amount of meat scrap gets dumped across various corners of the city in illegal slaughterhouses spread across the city. The extinction of Vultures acted as a boon for Black kites (Milvus migrans) and gradually, there was a rapid rise seen in the population of Black Kites.

In India, people love to fly paper kites with the help of sharp glass coated strings/Glass Manja. This string acts like a ‘naked sword’ in sky and generally cuts everything  which comes in its way whether it’s a bird or any human being. There have been many cases in which this ‘Manja’ has killed many human beings with fatal wounds on their throat.


We request you to kindly consider giving up kite flying or if you still love flying kites, fly them using a coton string, referred to as ‘saddi’  in Hindi .

For the glass string that gets tied on poles, tree branches also acts as an inevitable injury and death trap for birds of all species as they get entangled in them.

Once caught in these glass manjas, these birds are find it extremely difficult to break free and in the effort that they make to free themselves from these mesh of strings, they end up damaging their wings and other body parts, like damaging their toes.

If ever you spot an injured bird of prey like Kites, Eagles or any other non-vegetarian birds, please dial the following Helpline Numbers in Delhi – 9810029698, 9810129698,

—For all other kind of birds, like Crows, Pigeons, Owls etc.,contact : 9810639698, 986855222, 9212111116