Murder on all fours: Is a dog's life worth less than Rs 50?

In the third week of February Mulundbased animal welfare organisation Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare RAWW received a call informing them about a monkey spotted around housing societies that sit beside Sanjay Gandhi National Park SGNP The simian the caller said looked injured and in need of urgent helpSalim Charania of Peace for Animals Welfare Association centre complainant in the case Shubhang Sharma striped tee and friends inspect the Mira Road site where 15 strays were allegedly poisoned PicNimesh DavePawan Sharma founder of the fouryearold organisation said because of the difficulty of locating the animal that could easily camouflage itself in trees in the forestlined area it was finally two months later on April 19 that they managed to spot and rescue itIt turned out that the monkey was a victim of an acid attack When they found it its fur was burnt and it had suffered deep burn injuries to its face and chest He was taken to the Thane SPCA where veterinarians were unable to save himIllustrationUday MohiteRAWW wrote to the Bhandup Police Station explaining that the attack was not just inhuman but also a crime under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and section 11 sub section 1 sub clause a and c of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960Activists found this monkey a victim of an acid attack near Bhandup in February It was rushed to the Thane BSPCA but died the next dayYet no FIR has been registered in the case even today Sadly this is not an anomalySharma who has been an animal activist for eight years said that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 is a noncognizable offence and the police will file an FIR only after conducting an investigation Sadly action is rarely taken In fact in the nearly 90 cases of wildlife crimes that Sharma has filed over three years there is not one in which he recalls the culprit being suitably punishedSalim Charania in centre of PAWA and Mira Road resident Shubhang Sharma in tee near the spot where 1520 dogs were found poisoned on May 6 PicNimesh DaveRule of 50The realisation that even if the perpetrators of the acid attack had been identified arrested and convicted the maximum punishment they would have attracted is a fine Rs 50 Nuggehalli Jayasimha managing director of Bangalorebased Humane Society of India last week launched an online campaign NoMore50 urging animal lovers across India to demand harsher penalties in cruelty casesActivists in Delhi hold a placard and light candles as they pay tribute to police horse Shaktiman who died on April 20 succumbing to injuries it received when BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi attacked it a month before While Joshi was arrested on March 18 he was later released on bail PicAFPThe previous day on May 12 the Supreme Court agreed to hear a PIL on the same issue by Angel Trust a Delhibased nonprofit working for animal welfare Lawyer Prashant Bhushan assisted by advocate Siddhartha K Garg acting for the NGO filed the PIL following which the bench of justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh issued a notice to the environment ministryThis dog who used to live in the police quarters in Andheri E was allegedly beaten by a cop named Mukesh Dev The hit was so powerful that its eye was gauged out The case has found mention in the Angel Trust PIL While Dev is out on bail the dog is at a Pune shelterJayasimha said the present law Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 prescribed the penalty for inflicting cruelty on any animal It could be beating an animal overloading a bullock cart torture mutilation or even killing ldquoR50 was a considerable amount 55 years ago when the statute was enacted As of today it has no deterrent value whatsoever If we do the valuation as per the current rate the fine should be between R30005000 Making this crime a cognizable offence is also the need of the hour We are gathering support to our campaign from many political parties and MPs We will soon also approach Prakash Javdekar who heads the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change MoEFrdquoNavamita Mukherjee from Humane Society International India said ldquoBJP MP Poonam Mahajan has filed a private member bill in the Parliament urging the MoEF to make changes in the existing laws and also increase the penaltyrdquoShe added ldquoOur campaign is getting tremendous response The development in the field of technology has helped bring forward animal cruelty cases with the help of social networking sites and mobile applications There has been an increase in the cases of animal cruelty over the years The world is turing apathetic towards animals Stress and frustration run high and animals are an easy target Children should be taught to be compassionate towards animals as various researches done in the past have proven that children who are violent towards animals tend to continue the pattern in adulthood and do not hesitate to get aggressive with their own eitherrdquoAmong the celebrities who have shown support to the campaign are Usha Uthup Sudesh Bhosle Anup Jalota Tara Sharma Arman Mallik and Nagarjuna with wife AmalaFear of law neededAnimal cruelty cases as Mukherjee said are aplenty Earlier this month Shubhang Sharma a 26yearold Mira Road resident had stepped out of his home for a morning walk when he usually fed the arearsquos strays He found a few of them lying unconscious on the side of the pavement near the building Closer inspection revealed that they were dead Later Sharma realised that it wasnrsquot five but over 15 dogs who had died allegedly due to poisoningThough Sharma along with Salim Charania founder of Peace for Animals Welfare Association PAWA approached the local Navghar Police Station and registered an FIR they didnrsquot expect much action Instead they started investigating the case on their ownStudy of CCTV footage from buildings in the area and one from Pill Heights which faced the main road revealed that a local person identified as Shamlal Badal had fed poisoned food to the dogs Charania and Sharma allege that Badal is a butcher who sells pork and that the dogs were a threat to the pigs he reared Sharma said ldquoThe FIR was registered under the Animal Cruelty Act and the accused was arrested on May 7 but was released on bail immediately as it is a bailable offencerdquo Last year too there was a similar case of mass poisoning in which 50 dogs were killed in Bhayandar No investigation was conducted in the caseldquoThe rate of conviction is abysmal and thatrsquos because cops donrsquot take these cases seriously Even when a chargesheet is filed poor investigation allows the accused to enjoy the benefit of doubtrdquoIn this case alone the panchanama of the area and collection of the bin bag in which the poisoned food is believed to have been dumped was done on May 13 seven days after the dogs were found dead Fearing arrest Badal had admitted himself to a hospitalPolice subinspector and investigation officer in the case BS Dabhade said ldquoWe had arrested the accused Shamlal Badal on May 13 for allegedly killing the dog and he was produced before the court in Thane after which he was released on bail Our investigation into the case is in progress and we are collecting evidence to make the case strongrdquoThe cityrsquos police already overburdened end up treating animal cruelty cases as secondary What is needed agree activists and police is a separate wing dedicated to detection of such crimesA case in point is that of a dog who was mercilessly beaten by ironically a cop on April 7The stray used to live in the residential police quarters next to Andheri East police station The accused is Mukesh Dev who allegedly thrashed the dog with a stick and later locked it inside a toilet Apparently onlookers tried to intervene but the man paid no heedThe dog managed to escape later At present the dog is recovering at a private kennel in Pune An FIR was registered While Dev was arrested on April 22 he was released on bail the same dayIt was only after the media reported the issue that the police called the accused for questioningldquoThe need of the hour is to have a dedicated team at each police station to deal with animal cruelty cases because almost every other day such cases are reportedrdquo said SharmaMeet Ashar a Thanebased animal welfare officer would put that number to three a day ldquoThatrsquos 90 cases a month that to us alone As activists we have limited financial resources This involves hiring lawyers to make a strong case But we do the best we canrdquoA senior police officer who did not wished to be identified for the story said ldquoThere are several animal cruelty cases that come to various police stations in the city and we try to see to it that we register a case But often the complainant doesnrsquot want to step forward and register an FIR since they find the process timeconsuming Also due to lack of staff it is tough to deal with all such casesrdquo