Bhushan also wrote,"It is clear from ample scientific studies that those who abuse animals eventually escalate to abuse women and children and that animal cruelty is a precursor to human abuse."
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, supreme court advocate Prashant Bhushan voiced his concern against the toothless Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act 1960. Bhushan also wrote in his letter dated September 14, that there is an urgent need to notify the pet shop rules, 2010 as drafted by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).
Bhushan stated that main problem is that the PCA act has not been amended even once since its inception in 1960. "The most glaring lacuna in the act is that, the only punishment for killing any stray animal is a paltry Rs. 50 fine and no jail term. This means that the only punishment for let's say burning a puppies alive (like in the Hyderabad case) or throwing a throwing a dog off a building (like in the Chennai Bhadra case) is a negligible Rs. 50 fine and no jail term. Because of this the abusers lose the fear of law as they know that nothing will happen to them, even if caught," the letter states.
Bhushan also wrote,"It is clear from ample scientific studies that those who abuse animals eventually escalate to abuse women and children and that animal cruelty is a precursor to human abuse."
Meanwhile, taking up the issue of the urgent need to notify the Pet Shop Rules, 2010 he wrote that the pet shop industry was a cruel industry and rampant with abuse and exploitation with practices like bird's beaks cut off with hot knives, their wings clipped off, cat's claws just ripped off with plyers and no anesthesia. In fact he also mentioned in detail how there was forced incestuous mating of "pedigree" dogs so as to keep the "looks" intact, which meant breeding mothers with sons and fathers with daughters that in future leads to off springs born with severe genetic deformities that also increases the mortality.
To regulate this, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has made a set three rules — Pet Shop Rules, 2010, Dog Breeding, Marketing and Sale Rules, 2010 and the Aquarium Fish Breeding and Marketing Rules 2010 and this needed to be notified through the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFFCC)
Through his letter, Bhushan countered that there were enough scientific studies that show that animals feel emotions such as fear and joy just like us humans and the absence of strong anti-cruelty law flies in the face of our fundamental duty under Article 51A(g) of the constitution.
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