Man gets 10 days in jail for cruelty to his cattle

A Mumbai court has sentenced a 76-year-old man to 10-day imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on him for leaving his cattle out in rain for five days.

The court order against Gopal Phulsunge, a resident of Lalbagh in central Mumbai, came on a complaint by Chetan Sharma, an animal rights activist.

According to Sharma, Phulsunge was found to have tied his 28 animals - cows, bulls and calves - near a railway bridge in Kalachowky area on June 28, 2013.

The animals were drenched and starving for five days as Phulsunge did not provide them shelter from rain or fodder, Sharma said.

He had given the cattle to another person for milking them and sell the milk, the complaint said.

An offence under the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals Act, 1960, was registered against Phulsunge at Kalachowky police station. The police examined eyewitnesses who told the court that Phulsunge had tied up 28 animals out in the open for five days.

In the order passed on May 28, Metropolitan Magistrate A H Kashikar said the police did not produce a medical report to back the charge that Phulsunge left the animals starving.

But there was sufficient evidence to prove that the cattle were kept without any shelter to protect them from rain, which amounts to "cruelty" under the act, the judge held.