Thousands of Chicks Saved from Sacrifice at Mangai Devi Temple This Year by Belagavi Authorities Following PETA India and Shri Dayananda Swamiji’s Intervention
After being alerted to the inhumane practice of tossing live chicks onto the temple roof during the Ashada month every year at Mangai Devi Temple, Belagavi—where thousands of devotees purchased chicks sold on-site and hurled them over the sanctum as an offering—PETA India, along with local activists Nikita Kunthe and Aditya Hawal, met with and submitted a complaint to the Commissioner of Police, Belagavi. A complaint was also submitted by Shri Dayananda Swamiji of Prani Daya Sangha to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and District Magistrate (DM) of Belagavi, based on which the DC issued an order to the temple authorities prohibiting the sacrifice of animals during the festival this year, which takes place from 20 to 25 July. The Belagavi city police have deployed police personnel and put up banners warning that animal sacrifice in Karnataka is illegal. During the cruel practice, many chicks died on impact while the surviving ones were reportedly collected and resold, perpetuating the cycle of cruelty over the four‑day festival.
On, 22 July, local activists visited the temple and confirmed that no such use of chicks is taking place this year, and police have been deployed at the venue. Belagavi authorities have also displayed posters explicitly discouraging animal sacrifice.
PETA India commends the DC & DM, Belagavi and the Belgavi police for issuing an order prohibiting the abuse of thousands of chicks this year. Just as human sacrifice is now recognised and condemned as murder, the outdated practice of cruelty to animals in the name of religion must also be abolished.
In its complaint, PETA India pointed out that Section 3 of the Karnataka Prevention of Animal Sacrifices Act, 1959, strictly prohibits sacrificing animals in or in the precincts of any place of public religious worship or adoration or in a congregation or procession connected with religious worship. Section 4 prohibits any person from officiating or offering to officiate at – or perform or offer to perform, or serve, assist or participate in or offer to do so – an animal sacrifice in any place of public religious worship or its precincts. Section 5 prohibits the use of any place of public religious worship or adoration or its precincts for sacrificing animals by any person. Section 6 makes the contravention of Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Act a punishable offence.
In its complaint, PETA India also highlighted that killing animals illegally by several persons in furtherance of a common intention is a punishable offence under Section 3(5) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. Under Section 325 of the BNS, mischievously killing animals is punishable with imprisonment for a term that may extend to five years, a fine, or both.
Gujarat, Kerala, Puducherry, and Rajasthan already have laws in place prohibiting the religious sacrifice of any animal in any temple or its precinct. In addition to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana prohibit it in any place of public religious worship, adoration, its precinct, or any congregation or procession connected with religious worship on a public street.
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