Fazilka: FIR Registered Against Rape of a Female Dog Following Intervention by PETA India and Save Animals Save Humanity

For Immediate Release:

27 March 2026

Contact:

Fazilka — Acting on disturbing information and videos from concerned locals regarding a female dog who was allegedly raped in a wholesale market area, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India) worked with local activist Malti Sethi, the founder of Save Animals Save Humanity and the City Fazilka Police Station to ensure that a First Information Report (FIR) was registered. Based on a complaint submitted by Malti the FIR was registered against the accused under Section 325 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.

The crime took place on 17 March 2026. The shocking footage appears to show the accused penetrating his private part into the dog’s vagina, a violation that can inflict severe physical and mental pain and potential irreversible injury to the animal. Efforts are being made to locate the victim dog to provide her with medical assistance and conduct a vetero-legal examination.

“We commend the Fazilka Police for registering the FIR and sending a clear message that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated,” says Mohit Trivedi, Senior Cruelty Response Coordinator at PETA India. “Providing the strongest level of legal protection for animals helps safeguard all our country’s citizens, as the link between cruelty to animals and violence against humans is well-known.”

In 2021, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations released a report revealing that in the decade prior, nearly 500,000 animals – including cows and dogs – were victims of crimes and many had been subjected to sexual violence. Previously, a Voice of Stray Dogs report calculated that the sexual abuse of animals was often underreported but likely committed at a similar rate to human rape cases.

Acts of cruelty to animals indicate a deep mental disturbance. Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals often don’t stop there – many move on to hurting humans. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has found that a history of cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appear in its records of serial rapists and murderers.

PETA India notes that many violent criminals have a documented history of cruelty to animals. A study published in the Journal of Emotional Abuse found that 71% of women with companion animals who sought shelter from abuse at a safe home confirmed that their partner had threatened, injured, or killed the animals. A study published in Forensic Research and Criminology International Journal warns, “Those who engage in cruelty to animals were [three] times more likely to commit other crimes, including murder, rape, robbery, assault, harassment, threats, and drug/substance abuse. The major motivations for engaging in cruelty to animals include anger, fun, control, fear, dislike, revenge, imitation, and sexual pleasure.” In India, Ameerul Islam, who was convicted of raping and murdering a Kerala law student, Jisha, had a history of raping and killing dogs and goats.

PETA India has been urging Union Home Minister Amit Shah to bring an amendment in the BNS to specifically penalise sexual abuse of animals. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, punished sexual violence against animals, but there is no provision in the BNS that affords animals the same protection. Section 377 of the IPC regarded rape of an animal as a non-bailable offence and carried a punishment of “[imprisonment for life], or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine”.

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.

Sidebar

Donate Now