In bhagwat Geeta we read:
Mudha-grahenatmano yat pidaya kriyate tapah|
Parasyotsadanartham va tat tamasam udahrtam ||

Which means that the penance and austerities which is performed foolishly by means of obstinate self- torture, or to destroy or to injure others(all creatures), are said to be in the mode of ignorance. hence we may conclude that even God didn't support animal cruelty or sacrifices.

While we go through the newspapers we often find the news of animal cruelty. from killing animals to torturing them has become a trend where people take it as an entertainment doing it. we're in the age of social media where almost every bit is posted online and could be seen by millions of people. you would often find a video of torturing animals with more than a million view on it and still they're not being banned by the authorities. Before we go through the the topic of animal cruelty let's understand what animal cruelty actually is.

What is animal cruelty?
Animal cruelty in the simplest way could mean depriving the basic necessities such as food, shelter, water or the basic vetenary care to animals. It could also mean the killing of animals or maiming or torturing them.

Animal cruelty or abuse is not just common in the urban areas but it's there in the rural areas too. the animals who mostly suffer through animal cruelty are dogs,cats,horses or livestocks.A data on domestic violence against women and children states that animal cruelty is mostly done by those who abuse their children and spouses.

There are two kinds of animal cruelty -omission and commission. omission means not providing animals with what they should have been provided as their basic needs,for example -not providing them food,water or proper vetenary care. secondly, commission means Intentionally harming them by maiming them, killing them, mutilating them.

Some of the ways to check on animal cruelty might include that they're extremely underweight (Emaciation), lacking proper vetenary care Which includes the injuries that are untreated,lacking clean food and water, they have aggressiveness,or they're fearful seeing you near them.

International laws on animal cruelty
Universal declaration of animal rights -it was proclaimed by UNESCO.it stated that all animals have equal right to exist in the environment. it has 14 articles which state about the respect and dignity that should be provided to animals. they have the same right to liveand exist like humans. they also have the right to attention, love and care of man. they should not be dealt with cruelty. they have the right to complete their natural life span. also the unnecessary scenes of animal violence should be banned except for educational purposes. This declaration was although accepted only by some English speaking countries.

Cites-Cites or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is an international agreement between the governments.It protects endangered plants and species from international trade. although it is legally binding between the parties but it do not have a place of national laws.

Animal protection index, produced by world animal protection, deals with the Ranking of countries thatare doing well in animal welfare policy and legislation.it ranks countries from rank A (highest) to rank G (lowest) according to the countries policies and the laws. When we go through the reports of Animal protection index, top five countries India scored second rank. Other countries that ranked along were Spain, Mexico, France and new Zealand.

• Switzerland:
  It was the first country to recognise animal rights constitutionally. The Swiss Animal Welfare Act deals with the welfare of animals. If a citizen infringes the law, the implications may include:
  • Ban on keeping animals
  • Ban on breeding them
  • Ban on commercial use or trading of animals
  The Act states that while dealing with an animal, its dignity must be respected.
• Austria:
  Known for having some of the strictest animal welfare laws. The Austrian Animal Welfare Act, 2004 is the major law dealing with animal welfare. The purpose of this Act is to protect the life and welfare of animals, acknowledging mankind's responsibility toward animals as fellow creatures. Austria received an "A" grade from World Animal Protection.
• Spain:
  Has a moderate standard internationally for the welfare of animals. The first law to deal with animal abuse was the Criminal Act of 1928. Spain's penal laws impose penalties ranging from three months to one year for animal cruelty.
   
• Indian Laws on Animal Cruelty:
  The most important legal foundation is the Constitution of India. Key provisions include:
  • The Constitution of India, 1950:
    • Article 48A (42nd Amendment, 1976) – Imposes a duty on the State to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wildlife.
    • Article 51A(g) (42nd Amendment, 1976) – Imposes a duty on citizens to protect the environment and have compassion for living creatures.
  • Legislative Distribution under Article 248:
    • State List, Item 14 – States can preserve animals, prevent diseases, and enforce veterinary training and practices.
    • Concurrent List, Item 17 – Both Centre and State can make laws for the prevention of animal cruelty.
    • Concurrent List, Item 17B – Both Centre and State can make laws for the protection of birds and wild animals.
  • Other Important Laws:
    • Wildlife Protection Act
    • Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act

The Indian penal code,1860-Some provisions of Indian penal code,1860 deals with the laws regarding animal welfare. some of them are section 428 which states that whoever commits mischief as he maims, kills, poisons or renders useless any animal of value more than 10rs or upwards will be punished of either description for a tem which may extend to two years with or without fine.section 429 states that whoever commits mischief by killing or maiming cattle etc of value or any animal of value of fifty rupees or more shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years with or without fine. before the judgement of Navtej Singh johar vs union of India decriminalized section 377,the unnatural intercourse with animal was dealt with section 377 of Indian penal code,1860.bit after its decriminalisation it's not punishable.

Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita,2023-Only one section under Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita deals with animal welfare. this section was already there in the previous Indian penal code.section 323 states that whoever commits mischief as he maims, kills, poisons or renders useless any animal shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years with or without fine. this section is a merger of section 428 and section 429 of previous act.

Prevention to cruelty of animals act,1960-this act comprises of 41 sections. The aim of this act is to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering of animals and to make laws for the prevention of cruelty against animals.Its states that there shall be the establishment of animal welfare boards in India.the functions of this board includes prevention of cruelty to animals, prevent unnecessary suffering of animals, provide vetenary assistance to animals, guide for designing vehicles to lessen the burden on draught animals, give financial or other assistance to animal welfare organizations etc.

It also punishes person doing animal cruelty by fine of ten to fifty rupees on first instance and from twenty five rupees to hundred rupees fine and imprisonment for not more than three months on second or subsequent instance. it also bans unlawful experiments on animals. also it constitutes a committee to check the welfare of animals while in lawful experiment.there are various provisions like issuing search warrants,saving clause by not arresting people using animals in religious practices, treatment and care of animals etc.

Wildlife protection act,1972-this act with 66 sections and 6 schedules deal with the protection of wild animals, birds and plants And ensuring the ecological and environmental security of country.It Provides for the formation of wildlife advisory boards. it also prohibits hunting of endangered animals.it also bans the trade of scheduled animals.

And it provides licence for sale transfer etc of wildlife species. This act provides for establishment of wildlife parks, sanctuaries etc.it has six schedules under which schedule 1 deals with endangered species, schedule 2 deals with animals that need high protection and their trade is prohibited. schedule 3 and 4 deals with species that are not endangered but are protected species.schedule 5 deals with animals that could not be hunted and lastly schedule 6 deals with plants that are forbidden from being cultivated.

Draft animal welfare act,2011-this act will replace the prevention to cruelty of animals act,1960.this draft was made to provide Strict penalty for animal cruelty in India.In case of first instance of animal abuse,the abuser will be punished for imprisonment up to two years and a fine up to twenty five thousand rupees or both.in case of subsequent abuse,the abuser will be punished with imprisonment up to 3 years and with or without fine up to one lakh rupees.this bill is yet to be passed by the parliament.

Federation of Indian animal protection organisation ( FIAPO)-it deals with Animal protection movement in India.It acts as a bridge between activists, organisation and volunteers.it protects the rights of animalsat state and national levels.It promotes five basic freedoms For animals which includes freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from pain, injury and disease, freedom from fear and distress, freedom to express normal behaviour and freedom from discomfort.

Draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animal (Amendment) Bill-2022-this bill was introduced to amend Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960.this act includes bestiality under gruesome cruelty.beastiality means intercourse between human and animal.it is punishable with fine from 50,000-75000 rs.the punishment for killing of animals with maximum imprisonment of 5 years with fine.it also deals with the freedom to be provided to animals.and in the case of community animals,the local government shall be responsible for its care.

Case Laws On Animal Protection In India:

• Tilak Bahadur Rai v. State of Arunachal Pradesh (1979):
  In this case accused was acquitted as he killed the tiger in good faith in order to protect himself from being killed. Rajendra Kumar v. Union of India (1998)-it challenged the validity of Sections 5, 27,33,34,35, and 37 of the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 1991, by alleging that these sections were ultra vires the provisions of the Article 19(1)(g).SC held it was not ultra vires and was according to the compliance with CITES;
   
• State of Bihar v. Murad Ali Baig (1989):
  SC held that since elephant is a wild animal under schedule 1 of wildlife protection act,1972 hence it's hunting is prohibited. Animal Welfare of India v. A Nagaraja and Ors. (2014)-SC held the practice of jalilattu in Tamil Nadu to be unreasonable and asked to include "bull" in the prevention of cruelty act,1960. Animal welfare board vs union of India,2023-SC upheld the practice of jalilattu in Tamil Nadu to prevention of cruelty act,1960.

Conclusion:
although india ranks second in animal protection index still there's a long way to go when we talk about the concept of animal cruelty.india has been drafting various bills acts and precedents for animal protection still the gravity of punishment is not enough when it comes to dealing with the grave topic of animal cruelty.The new Bhartiya nyaya sanhita also doesn't include the concept of unnatural intercourse with animals that was provided in the previous acts.the laws on animal cruelty lack dealing with the usage of social media representation of animal abuse.it also doesn't prohibit killing of animals by people with sick mind.

Although it is not only the work of legislation and organisations to deal with animal welfare,the citizens as well as various organisations working for public welfare are equally responsible to deal with the subject of animal rights protection.The punishment of two to five years doesn't justify the gravity of trauma that an animal goes through while being in such abusive situation.and while we talk about justice (political, economic and social) in the preamble of our country are the animals being treated fair by the laws of the country or we still have a long way to go in getting those actually dumb Witnesses a justice actually.

Written By: Avantika Shukla, advocate at Allahabad high court