Pune – Police officers from all police stations of the Pune City Police came together at the Police Commissionerate in Agarkar Nagar yesterday, 16 April, to attend a workshop conducted by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India. The initiative was supported by Advocate Sumedh Gaikwad, a Pune-based animal rights activist, and was conducted under the benevolent leadership of the Joint Commissioner of Police, Ranjan Kumar Sharma, IPS.
Nearly 100 police officers, including police constables, head constables, assistant sub-inspectors of police, sub-inspectors of police, assistant police inspectors and police inspectors from all police stations participated in a three-hour long workshop. The workshop covered the provisions of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960; the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (as amended in 2022); Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and other animal relevant laws.
“The Pune Police aims to crack down on cruelty to animals, and PETA India are pleased to support them in this effort,” says Meet Ashar, PETA India’s Cruelty Response Legal Advisor and Associate Director. “On behalf of animals and society at large, we are thankful to the Pune Police for taking cruelty to animals seriously.”
In 2021, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations released a report revealing that in the decade prior, nearly 500,000 animals – including cows and dogs – were victims of crimes.
PETA India notes that many violent criminals have a documented history of cruelty to animals. A study published in Forensic Research and Criminology International Journal warns, “Those who engage in cruelty to animals were [three] times more likely to commit other crimes, including murder, rape, robbery, assault, harassment, threats, and drug/substance abuse. The major motivations for engaging in cruelty to animals include anger, fun, control, fear, dislike, revenge, imitation, and sexual pleasure.”
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – has long campaigned to strengthen the PCA Act, 1960, which contains outdated, inadequate penalties, such as a maximum fine of only Rs 50 for convicted first-time offenders (although the BNS, 2023 prescribes stronger punishments). In a proposal sent to the central government regarding an amendment to the PCA Act, PETA India has recommended significantly increasing penalties for cruelty to animals.