Govt promises stern legislation against animal cruelty

The Centre today said consultations are on to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act and it was in the "advanced stage".
"The government has received proposal from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) for amendment of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act 1960, and has conducted consultations with various stakeholders on the necessity and scope of such amendments.
"Such consultations are at an advanced stage. Proposals for amendments are submitted to the legislature after such consultations are concluded. Hence no time frame in this regard is available at present," Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

His reply came after being asked whether the Ministry intended to review the draft amendments to the Act received in 2011.
On whether there was a need to review the provisions of the PCA Act, especially those pertaining to definitions of cruelty and punitive measures, Dave said the government regularly reviewed the Act.
"The government regularly reviews the implementation of the PCA Act 1960 in order to strengthen its provisions, including those relating to definition of cruelty and the punitive measures and achieve the objectives of the Act," he said.

The statement comes after animal right bodies like Humane Society International India and People for Animals recently launched a campaign asking the Environment Ministry to enhance the punishment for animal cruelty and make it "stronger".

Claiming that the penalty in PCA Act for killing, mutilating and maiming an animal has "never" been revised, the outfits said animal abusers have taken advantage of this "feeble" law and continued to inflict cruelty on animals.
It had said that at present, the maximum penalty even for the most heinous form of animal abuse was a petty sum of Rs 50.