Animals Have Emotions Too, Their Shifting Against Rules And Without Proper Management Is Cruelty: Bombay HC

Animals Have Emotions Too, Their Shifting Against Rules And Without Proper Management Is Cruelty: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has observed in an important order that animals also have feelings like humans. Animals cannot express their feelings just by speaking like humans, so rules and regulations have been made to protect their rights.

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court refused to hand over cattle seized by the police to their owners in a case of cruelty to animals.

Justice GA Sanap’s bench, while hearing the matter, passed an order to hand over the custody of the cattle to a non-governmental organization instead of their owners.

In this case, the police had seized the animal in violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the Motor Vehicles Act while transferring the animals against rules, against which the owners of the animals had applied in the lower court to get the custody of the animals.

The lower court had rejected the owners’ application. Against the decision of the lower court, the owners of the animals had filed a petition in the High Court seeking custody of the animals.

The contention of the defendants in this case was that about 50 buffaloes including milch buffaloes were being transported in an inhumane manner in three trucks. On getting the information, the police seized these animals. The defendants argued that the animals were being shifted in an inhumane manner by flouting the rules. The animals were being transported with unnecessary suffering and cruelty and the transfer of animals was against the law and rules.

The petitioners argued that he had a license to buy and sell animals and that he had bought these animals after which he was transporting them. The petitioners said that being the owners of the animals, these animals should be handed over to them.

The lower court had dismissed the appeal of the petitioners, finding the transfer of animals to be violative of Sections 66 and 192 of the Motor Vehicles Act and Section 11 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

The Court, taking into account the submissions of the Respondents and the claims of cruelty to animals, found the transfer of animals against the norms and rules under the Transport Rules.

The court rejected the appeal of the petitioners and refused to hand them over to the animals.

Case- Ansar Ahmed Qureshi and others vs. State of Maharashtra (Criminal Writ Petition No. 708/715 of 2022)