CCTV Footage Captures Mumbai Man Smashing a Kitten Against a Wall

For Immediate Release:
2 June 2017

Contact:
Meet Ashar; [email protected]
Benazir Suraiya; [email protected]

PETA Demands Strong Punishment, Police File an FIR

Mumbai – After receiving word that a man working at Kesma Impex Pvt Ltd allegedly killed a 3-month-old kitten by smashing her against a wall and hitting her with a bamboo stick until she bled to death, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India fired off a letter to Mumbai’s Commissioner of Police calling for the perpetrator to be punished under the Indian Penal Code and to undergo psychiatric evaluation and counselling. In the letter, PETA pointed out that the crime is an apparent punishable offence under Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code as well as sections 11(1)(a) and (l) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and section 119 of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951.

The CCTV footage is available upon request.

PETA also helped a person concerned about the kitten’s welfare, Yuvraj Bhavsar, file a First Information Report (FIR) at the local police station and wrote a letter to the alleged perpetrator’s employer requesting termination of his employment if found guilty.

“This kitten died a horribly painful death, and horrifyingly, cruelty cases like this one are becoming a more common phenomenon,” says PETA Emergency Response Coordinator Meet Ashar. “PETA is calling for the perpetrator to be punished and urges the government to strengthen penalties for abusing animals – for the entire community’s safety.”

Several recent cases of cruelty to animals have indicated the need for harsher penalties, including those in which a Bangalore woman killed eight puppies, Chennai medical students threw a puppy from a roof, and Vellore medical students killed a monkey. According to mental-health and law-enforcement authorities, people who commit acts of cruelty to animals often move on to hurting humans. In a study of domestic violence victims, 60 per cent of women said that their abusive partners had harmed or killed their dogs or other animals.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – has long campaigned to strengthen India’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, which contains outdated penalties, such as a maximum fine of only Rs 50 for convicted first-time offenders.

For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com.

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