A dog is a common animal with four legs, especially kept by people as a pet or to hunt or guard things. Dogs like other human beings have life in them. They too endure on food and oxygen. It’s just that they cannot speak and do multi-tasking like a man. Dogs perform a lot of activities such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This influence on human society has given them the title of, "man's best friend".
Dog is one such animal which has six senses and is much more loyal to its owner. Even the owner can trust more upon his dog then trusting any friend or relative. As we have seen that, these days most of the households keep dogs as their prime pets, but why don’t they keep other animals like tiger, lion, donkey etc ? Because there is a simple reason behind it i.e. dogs are the most loyal creatures and will never betray a person who feeds them. But this relation can only be understood by those, who have sympathy for the dogs or who are fond of keeping dogs at their places either for entertainment or for care taking. Even if you will feed a stray dog daily then also that stray dog will always be loyal to you and will come at your place daily at the same time the previous day he was given food.
But today the respect for the animals is getting demolished. Human beings are being self centered and are jus craving for their happiness and joy. They don’t bother about their surroundings. Whether they are harming the lives of others or contributing towards the degradation of ecosystem, they just don’t feel any kind of concern. The ultimate thing a modern human wants is to enjoy more and more at the cost of others. Human beings consider them superior. Human beings are becoming cruel as they try to find happiness in harming other creatures.
We can see this through variety of cases that happen in our society related to dogs. Many people try to find joy by causing hurt to the dogs who are considered to be the most loyal animal on our planet Earth. In Bangalore woman allegedly killed eight puppies in order to teach her mother a lesson. The dog gave birth to small puppies in a drain next to her house and the woman killed 8 of the puppies saying “acha nahi laga, faink diya. ” After she was caught she was released on bail with a penalty of Rs 50. Crime against animals in India is not taken seriously. In another shocking case of animal cruelty, eight teenagers of Hyderabad burnt three puppies alive. The puppies were two months old and all the accused were below 18 years. They carried the puppies by their hind legs in the graveyard and burnt them under the piles of leaves, dried branches, sticks and jute sacks.
The puppy burning case in Hyderabad closely follows the infamous case of a dog being thrown of a terrace by medical students in Chennai and a host of animal cruelty cases across the country including serial killing of dogs in Delhi, a bestiality case in Kerala and a case of puppy killing in Bengaluru among others . However, in most cases, the accused are able to get away with paying a fine of Rs 50, the maximum penalty prescribed under section 11(o) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.
The penalty for the animal cruelty in India since the law was established is Rs50. At that time Rs50 had a lot of value. But in today’s world the value of Rs50 is negligible. It is shocking to hear that government of India didn’t bother to change this value with the passage of time. It has been 56 years since the law was made and till now there has been no amendments. The #NoMore50 campaign aims to revise the penalties for animal cruelty to amounts relevant to this day and age. It is shameful for a developing country like India that animal cruelty is not given much importance. The penalty for the animal cruelty is very less in the modern era and it has become very easy for the people to get rid from the cases of animal cruelty because Rs50 is not a big amount to be paid. It’s very simple as to first hurt any animal and when caught, the person can pay Rs 50 and get rid of the case. It’s time to study and understand the importance of violent behaviour towards animals in children and the domino effect it could have in other forms of violence. The government should amend the laws pertaining to the animal’s safety. The fines should be increased; strict actions must be taken so that no one further dares to hurt these defenceless animals. Certain new laws should be passed protecting the right of these animals because animals too are the part of our country India and have certain right; right to life, right to liberty etc. They are not aliens. So government should amend the laws for the protection of animals. The laws should be modified with the present situations and modern times. At last fines should be increased up to Rs 10,000 with an imprisonment of minimum 2 years so as to stop people from causing further harm to the innocent animals.
Citations
- http://www.firstpost.com/india/animal-cruelty-woman-in-bengaluru-flung-8-puppies-on-a-boulder-to-teach-mother-a-lesson-2689764.html
http://www.hsi.org/world/india/news/releases/2016/07/hyderabad-juveniles-arrested-for-burning-puppies-alive-072116.html
Section 11 of The Prevention to Animal Cruelty Act 1960- 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 employed; or
(c) willfully and unreasonably administers any injurious drug or injurious substance to (any animal) or willfully and unreasonably causes or attempts to cause any such drug or substance to be taken by (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) willfully 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
{(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) [xxxx] 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 (in the case of a first offence, with fine which shall not be less than ten rup6es 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.]
