Kota Police Register First Information Report for Dog Rape Following PETA India Push

Following a complaint lodged by a concerned citizen with the help of PETA India, Kota police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against a man who allegedly raped a female stray dog. PETA India worked with the Kota superintendent of police and the station house officer of Kunadi police station. The FIR has been registered under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which makes carnal intercourse with an animal a punishable offence with imprisonment for life, and Section 11 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960. The alleged perpetrator has been arrested.

PETA India has urged the central government to include bestiality as a cognisable offence in an amendment to the PCA Act and to introduce stronger penalties for cruelty to animals under this Act. While the IPC carries stronger punishments, currently the maximum penalty for abusing an animal under the PCA Act is a mere Rs 50 fine. Several recent cases of sexual abuse of animals signify the need for harsher penalties under the PCA Act to ensure that it acts as a deterrent for potential offenders. The cases include the following: a man in West Bengal was arrested for dragging a stray dog into his house and raping the animal, a security guard regularly raped a resident female stray dog in a washroom in Mumbai, police found video footage of an accused murderer in Kerala sexually assaulting a goat, and a carpenter in Kerala was arrested for sexually abusing a dog. In addition, two men, aged 25 and 50, were arrested and charged for raping a cow in separate incidents in Madhya Pradesh, and an 18-year-old from Delhi was charged for committing bestiality on a calf.

Acts of cruelty to animals such as this one 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. In a study of domestic violence victims, 60% of women said their abusive partners had harmed or killed their dogs or other animals.

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