The Kerala High Court has registered a suo motu case in the backdrop of a series of incidents in which animals are being treated cruelly.
The case was registered based on a letter written by Justice A.K Jayasankaran Nambiar to the Chief Justice bringing to his attention the news reports on the cruel and inhuman killing of a dog by three minors on the Adimalathura beach in Thiruvananthapuram. The video of the incident had gone viral on social media.
Matter of concern
The letter pointed out that it was a matter of concern that many such incidents were reported in the media in the past couple of years. The sheer number of such cases and the frequency of their occurrence led one to suspect that such cruelty was now turning habitual. As a people, our approach towards animal rights had been far from desirable.
Animals rights
The letter pointed out that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 were founded on the basic premise of superiority of the human species over all others and of restrictions/control of human action as the basis for protection of animal rights. This approach virtually makes animal rights a byproduct of human compassion or benevolence.
The enviable position of the human species enabled them to concede certain rights to other species on the planet and take affirmative action to protect the rights of other species.
The case will come up for hearing on Friday.
