Tumakuru Authorities Prevent Animal Sacrifices at Two Temples Following PETA India Intervention
After receiving information that sacrifice of animals, reportedly to include buffaloes, goats, and sheep, were being planned as part of annual rituals at Sri Muttinakempamma Devi Temple in Dobaranahalli village and Dhodamma Temple in Kalluru village, Tumakuru district, on 23 and 24 April respectively, PETA India swiftly intervened. Following PETA India’s complaint, the Tumakuru Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), in coordination with the police, issued strict warnings in the days leading up to the rituals and arranged for police bandobast at both sites to ensure that no animals were harmed.
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.
