Blood-Drenched Bull, Collapsed and Dragged Pony and Illegal Animal Races in Belagavi—Three Booked for Heartless Acts Following PETA India Complaint
Following utterly heartless videos and posters uploaded on social media showing a severely distressed blood-drenched bull tightly tied to a concrete pole with nose-ropes; bulls forced to race while heaving and bloodied; a pony collapsing while hitched to a cart and to another animal; bulls and ponies hitched together; and other animal racing cruelties—PETA India worked with the Belagavi District Administration and the Belagavi Police, particularly, the Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate (DC & DM), Shri Mohammad Roshan, IAS, to get a First Information Report (FIR) registered against those responsible for organizing, participating in, and inflicting cruelty on the animals by forcing them to race.
The FIR was registered by Sureban police station under Section 325 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, against Ittappa Kadappa, Bhimappa Avappa, Bharamappa Bhimappa and other unknown persons. PETA India now urges the Belagavi Rural Police to seize the four bulls and two ponies and any other animals involved.
Section 325 of the BNS, 2023, makes the maiming or killing of any animal a cognisable offence and provides for a jail term of up to five years, a fine, or both. Section 11 of the PCA Act, 1960, defines “cruelty” and makes the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering upon any animal a punishable offence.
Bullock-cart and pony-cart races inflict severe physical and psychological suffering on animals. They are routinely beaten, whipped, have their tailbones broken and face weapons like electric-shock devices and spiked sticks—all to force them to run beyond the point of exhaustion. Animals used for such events commonly suffer serious injuries, lung haemorrhaging and even death. Using animals of different species to pull the same cart violates the Prevention of Cruelty to Draught and Pack Animals Rules, 1965, notified under the PCA Act, 1960, as they operate at different speeds and have differing heights and capacities.
