IMPORTANT LAWS RELATING TO ANIMALS IN INDIA.

BY ADV. ADNAN A. MOOKHTIAR

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FOR ANIMALS:

Article 51A(g)
It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and
improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and
wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures.

Article 48A.
Protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of
forests and wild life.
The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and
to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country.

Provisions relating to Animals as per the

Indian Penal Code:
Section 289: Negligent conduct with respect to
animal.
Whoever knowingly or negligently omits to take such order with any
animal in his possession as is sufficient to guard against any
probable danger to human life, or any probable danger of grievous
hurt from such animal, 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.

Section 377: Unnatural offences.

Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of

nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with
1[imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment of either description
for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable
to fine. Explanation.—Penetration is sufficient to constitute the
carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this
section.

Section 428: Mischief by killing or maiming animal

of the value of ten rupees.

Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering

useless any animal or animals of the value of 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.

Section 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, or any other animal of the value
of fifty rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment of
either description for a term which may extend to five years, or
with fine, or with both.

THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ACT, 1960

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS GENERALLY

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) [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 so employed;
(c) wilfully and unreasonably administers any injurious
drug or injurious substance to 2 [any animal] or
 wilfully and unreasonably causes or attempts to cause
any such drug or substance to be taken by 2 [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 render it likely that it will
suffer pain by reason of starvation or 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 ill-treatment; or
(l) [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 of prey
for any other animal; or (ii) incites any animal to
fight or bait any other animal; or]
(n) organises, keeps, uses or acts in the management of,
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, [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 sub-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 of 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 or [by such other methods as
may be prescribed]; or (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.

Section 13: Destruction of suffering animals.

(1) Where the owner of an animal is convicted of an offence under
section 11, it shall be lawful for the court, if the court is
satisfied that it would be cruel to keep the animal alive, to
direct that the animal be destroyed and to assign the animal to
any suitable person for that purpose, and the person to whom such
animal is so assigned shall, as soon as possible, destroy such
animal or cause such animal to be destroyed in his presence
without unnecessary suffering, and any reasonable expense
incurred in destroying the animal may be ordered by the court to
be recovered from the owner as if it were a fine: Provided that
unless the owner assents thereto, no order shall be made under
this section except upon the evidence of a veterinary officer in
charge of the area.
(2) When any magistrate, commissioner of police or district
superintendent of police has reason to believe that an offence
under section 11 has been committed in respect of any animal, he
may direct the immediate destruction of the animal, if in his
opinion, it would be cruel to keep the animal alive.
 (3) Any police officer above the rank of a constable or any
person authorised by the State Government in this behalf who
finds any animal so diseased or so severely injured or in such a
physical condition that in his opinion it cannot be removed
without cruelty, may, if the owner is absent or refuses his
consent to the destruction of the animal, forthwith summon the
veterinary officer in charge of the area in which the animal is
found, and if the veterinary office certifies that the animal is
mortally injured or so severely injured or in such a physical
condition that it would be cruel to keep it alive, the police
officer or the person authorised, as the case may be may, after
obtaining orders from a magistrate, destroy the animal injured or
cause it to be destroyed [in such manner as may be prescribed].
(4) No appeal shall lie from any order of a magistrate for the
destruction of an animal.

EXPERIMENTATION ON ANIMALS
Section 14 – Experiments on animals.
Nothing contained in this Act shall render unlawful the performance
of experiments (including experiments involving operations) on
animals for the purpose of advancement by new discovery of
physiological knowledge or of knowledge which will be useful for
saving or for prolonging life or alleviating suffering or for
combating any disease, whether of human beings, animals or plants.

IMPORTANT LAWS FOR ANIMAL RIGHT ACTIVISTS TO BE

AWARE OF FOR THEIR PERSONAL PROTECTION.

SECTION 323 – PUNISHMENT VOLUNTARILY CAUSING

HURT.
SECTION 324 – VOLUNTARILY CAUSING HURT BY
DANGEROUS WEAPONS OR MEANS.
SECTION 326 – VOLUNTARILY CAUSING GRIEVOUS HURT
BY DANGEROUS WEAPONS OR MEANS.
IF ANYONE ASSAULTS YOU WHILE YOU ARE
RESPONSIBLY FEEDING AN ANIMAL OR RESCUING AN
ANIMAL, THE CULPRIT CAN BE BOOKED UNDER THESE
SECTIONS.
SECTION 378 – THEFT
SECTION 379 – PUNISHMENT FOR THEFT.
IF ANYONE STEALS YOUR ANIMAL, THE ABOVE
SECTIONS ARE APPLICABLE.
Section 378 of Indian Penal Code deals with ‘Theft’, stating that
whoever, intending to take dishonestly any moveable property out of
the possession of any person without that person’s consent, moves
that property in order to such taking, is said to commit theft. And
the property, under this section includes ‘animals’ too. The section
itself explains the matter related to animals. A person, who by any
means causes an animal to move, is said to move that animal without
the consent of the owner. For example; A, being Z’s servant and
entrusted by Z with the care of his dog, takes the dog and sells it
to the other party, without Z’s consent. The act of A will amount to
theft. A Pet, or any other animal within the possession of the owner
is considered to be the property of the owner. And any property
taken away from the owner without the consent of the owner, amounts
to theft.
Section 379 of Indian Penal Code, penalizes ‘theft’. Under this
Section, the punishment of theft is imprisonment of either
description for a term, which may extend to three years, or with
fine, or with both. So, like in any other theft case, the procedure
will be the same. When a person approaches the police station with
the complaint regarding the theft of an animal, the complainant
should be encouraged to give a detailed description of the lost
animal, if possible, with a photograph. And it should be immediately
filed as an F.I.R in the police register/records, the copy of which
should be duly signed, stamped and dated, along with the time and be
handed to the complainant. The duty officer of the police station is
responsible for making all the necessary entries. The complainant
has right to file an F.I.R. This should be read together with the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 as forcibly taking an
animal out of its environs amounting to cruelty.

SECTION 503 – CRIMINAL INTIMIDATION

IF ANYONE THREATENS YOU WHILE YOU ARE FEEDING
AN ANIMAL RESPONSIBLY AND WITHOUT CONTRAVENING
ANY LEGAL PROVISIONS THEN THE SECTIONS RELATING
TO CRIMINAL INTIMIDATION SHALL APPLY.
SECTION 503 STATES: Whoever threatens another with any
injury to his person, reputation or property, or to the person or
reputation of any one in whom that person is interested, with intent
to cause alarm to that person, or to cause that person to do any act
which he is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do any act which
that person is legally entitled to do, as the means of avoiding the
execution of such threat, commits criminal intimidation.
Explanation.—A threat to injure the reputation of any deceased
person in whom the person threatened is interested, is within this
section. Illustration A, for the purpose of inducing B to desist
from prosecuting a civil suit, threatens to burn B’s house. A is
guilty of criminal intimidation.

SECTION 506 – PUNISHMENT FOR CRIMINAL

INTIMIDATION.
Whoever commits, the offence of criminal intimidation shall be
punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which
may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both; If threat be to
cause death or grievous hurt, etc.—And if the threat be to cause
death or grievous hurt, or to cause the destruction of any property
by fire, or to cause an offence punishable with death or
1[imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to seven years, or to impute, unchastity to a woman, shall be
punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which
may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.