Victoria horse rides:HC orders setting up of team to keep tabs

The Bombay High Court today directed for setting up a team, comprising an officer from the traffic police and a veterinarian from a government hospital, to conduct surprise checks on horse carriages plying in south Mumbai.
The direction was passed by a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha on a public interest litigation filed by the Animals and Birds Charitable Trust alleging cruelty to horses by using them for joyrides for people.
The petitioners, including NGOs People for Animals and People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), today sought a direction to ban plying of Victoria horse carriages during monsoon.

"The Joint Commissioner of Traffic Police shall form a team comprising one traffic police officer, one vet from a government hospital and a member of the petitioner NGOs. This team shall conduct surprise checks on Victoria horse carriages plying at Nariman Point and Colaba. If the horse is found in a bad condition, then it shall be seized immediately," the court directed.
The seized horse shall be handed over to PETA, the court said, for treatment and rehabilitation.
The team was asked to be formed after senior counsel Shiraz Rustom, appearing for the petitioner NGO, argued that when the NGO members stop a horse carriage owner and ask for license they are abused and even threatened.

Seeking a ban on horse carriages in monsoon, Rustom pointed to an incident of suburban Chembur where five horses were left in the open in the rains for five days. "Following a complaint, the NGO had to finally take the horses away," he added.