Mathura Forest Division Registers Preliminary Offense Report Over Illegally Confined Langur, Following PETA India Complaint

For Immediate Release:

24 May 2025

Contact:

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]

Sanskriti Bansore; [email protected]

Mathura – After being alerted about a gray langur who was being held captive and tied to a tree, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India immediately alerted the Mathura Forest Division of the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department to register a preliminary offence report (POR) against the accused. A POR has been registered under sections 9, 39, and 51 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972.

The primate was rescued and rehabilitated and was later released into a natural habitat following necessary protocols, including health checks. Gray langurs are protected under Schedule II of the WPA, 1972, which makes capturing them, keeping them in captivity as “pets,” or forcing them to perform an offense punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.

“PETA India is thankful to the Mathura Forest Division, particularly Shri Rajnikant Mittal, IFS, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Mathura, for his prompt action in rescuing the captive langur and ensuring a POR was registered,” says PETA India’s Cruelty Response Coordinator, Shreedhara Purohit. “PETA India urges compassionate individuals to stay vigilant and report any instances of cruelty to wildlife or other animals to the appropriate authorities, such as the police or the forest department.”

In the forests, gray langurs typically live in groups of dozens. They spend much of their time playing, grooming, and engaging in other social activities. Family members are always on the lookout for danger and quickly rush to defend their loved ones.

Monkeys kept in homes as “pets” or forced to perform are often chained or confined to cramped cages. When used for entertainment, they are typically trained through beatings and food deprivation, and their teeth are often pulled out to prevent them from defending themselves. In 1998, the central government issued a notification under The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960, stating that monkeys and several other species of wild animals are not to be exhibited or trained as performing animals.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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