Buffalo Sacrifice Cancelled at Temple in Vijayanagara Following PETA India Intervention
After receiving information that a buffalo sacrifice was being planned as part of rituals at Udisalamma Devi Temple, Chirasthalli village of Vijayanagara district, on January 6 and 7, PETA India swiftly intervened. Following PETA India’s complaint, the Vijayanagara police issued a notice and held a meeting with the temple authorities to explain the prohibition on animal sacrifice, as stated in the formal notice issued. The meeting was conducted in the presence of the Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) before the festival could begin. The notice also stated that an FIR would be registered if any such violation occurred at the temple.
PETA India applauds the proactive efforts of the Vijayanagara police in preventing an illegal animal sacrifice. Special recognition goes to Sub-Inspector Sri Kiran Kumar A of the Halawagalu Police Station for taking decisive steps to ensure that cruelty was stopped before it could occur.
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. 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.
Just as human sacrifice is now recognised and condemned as murder, the outdated practice of animal sacrifice must also be abolished.
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