Bharat chauhan Mewat, Haryana – An FIR have been registered against 8 men for allegedly gang raping and killing a pregnant goat in Mewat town of Nuh district in Haryana, following the complaints filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and others with the local police. PETA India worked with the Superintendent of Police Nuh district and Station House Officer, Nagina Police Station to get a First Information Report (FIR) registered under Sections 377 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 also Section 11(1)(a) &(l) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.Out of the 8 accused, 3 have been identified however all of them are on the run. The police is expecting to nab them soon. A post-mortem of the goat was conducted at the local government veterinary hospital and the samples collected were sent to state forensic laboratory at Madhuban for further investigation. Section 377 is the only law that protects animals against beastiality and provides for a maximum punishment of imprisonment which may extend to 10 years.
“Violent people often start by abusing animals and then move on to targeting human victims. Therefore, this case should worry everyone,” says PETA India Emergency Response Coordinator Meet Ashar. “PETA calls for anyone found harming animals to be punished to the fullest extent of the law and requests that the government strengthen penalties for abusing animals – for the entire community’s safety.”
Several recent cases of cruelty to animals have signified the need for harsher penalties, including the following: a housing colony security guard caught regularly sexually abusing a resident female stray dog in a washroom, a Bengaluru woman killed eight puppies, Chennai medical students threw a puppy off a roof, and Vellore medical students tortured a monkey to death. According to mental-health and law-enforcement authorities, people who commit acts of cruelty to animals often move on to hurting humans. In a study of domestic violence victims, 60 per cent of women said that their abusive partners had harmed or killed their dogs or other animals.
PETA India– whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – has long campaigned to strengthen India’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, which contains outdated penalties, such as a maximum fine of only Rs 50 for convicted first-time offenders.
