High Court of Delhi Seeks CCSEA Response to PETA India Petition for Release of 73 Beagles and Other Animals Eligible for Rehabilitation from Palamur Biosciences

For Immediate Release:

27 July 2026

Contact:

Varulika Dixit; [email protected]

Sanskriti Bansore; [email protected]

New Delhi/Hyderabad – Today, a Bench consisting of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi issued notice to the central government’s Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA) seeking their response to a petition filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India) for rehabilitation of eligible animals from Palamur Biosciences Pvt. Ltd. – a contract laboratory that tests drugs, pesticides, and medical devices on animals, often for foreign clients – to suitable sanctuaries and loving homes. PETA India’s petition follows a year of insufficient action by the CCSEA, and the persistent failure of Palamur Biosciences Pvt. Ltd. to meaningfully rehabilitate 73 beagles and other animals who are ineligible by law for breeding or experiments. The petition also seeks the revocation of the Telangana-based facility’s registration to breed and experiment upon animals for documented violations of CCSEA guidelines.

PETA India’s petition seeks identification of animals who have completed the maximum permitted breeding or experimentation cycles, who have been in the laboratory’s custody for more than the permitted duration of three years, or who are unfit to be used for breeding or experimentation due to age, infirmity or otherwise. This includes 73 beagle dogs, whom Palamur itself identified as eligible for rehabilitation over a year ago, but who continue to live at the laboratory in conditions near-identical to those dogs used for breeding and experimentation. Mr. Rajshekhar Rao, Senior Advocate, submitted on behalf of PETA India that despite offers from Freagles—a facility that specialises in the rehabilitation of beagles retired from laboratories—to place these dogs in loving homes or to care for them at their sanctuary setting, Palamur has outrightly refused to give these dogs a chance at a life better than in barren cages for no apparent reason.

PETA India’s petition also seeks directions to the CCSEA to gather and publish data from laboratories relating to the species-wise census of animals; the type of experiments being performed; SOPs for reuse, rehabilitation or euthanasia of animals and corresponding records; and justification/rationale for the use of animals of a particular species for the sake of public transparency. Publication of such data would ensure accountability and enable independent scrutiny of whether laboratories are reducing and replacing the use of animals in experimentation with non-animal technologies. The United Kingdom, for instance, publishes detailed annual statistics regarding the number of scientific procedures involving animals.

In October 2024, PETA India filed official complaints with authorities about likely unauthorized testing on rhesus macaques at Palamur Biosciences. Shortly after, whistleblowers came forward with testimony, images, and video footage revealing shocking conditions at the facility spanning years. According to their reports, approximately 1,500 dogs were reportedly crammed into overcrowded cages at the company’s beagle breeding facility, with several dogs confined to spaces meant for just two. The stressed dogs were often biting one another and sustaining bloodied and torn ears. Whistleblowers reported that dogs with minor, treatable conditions were killed rather than treated, and over 100 dogs were killed in a single incident because they were no longer considered “useful.” Göttingen minipigs at the facility were reportedly confined to barren cages, and when one unexpectedly gave birth, all her babies were allegedly killed because the company is not licensed to breed minipigs. Chemicals were reportedly injected under dogs’ skin, causing infections so severe that in some cases, the dogs couldn’t move. Drugs forced down their throats allegedly led to pain, vomiting blood and other suffering as well as deaths, and staff reportedly kicked dogs, negligently closed cage doors on their limbs, and handled them so roughly that bones were broken.

The facility also allegedly obtained wild rhesus macaques from Rajasthan. Some monkeys were reportedly suspected to carry monkeypox, which can be transmitted to humans. Instead of alerting authorities, whistleblowers say the laboratory killed the monkeys to hide the public health risk.

A government-appointed inspection committee report submitted to CCSEA on 17 June 2025 documented entrenched structural, procedural, and ethical failures at the facility and stated that the findings reflect a “systemic and ongoing disregard for regulatory compliance, ethical responsibility and animal welfare” and “Immediate regulatory action is warranted, including removal and rehabilitation of animals in order to prevent further pain and suffering”. The inspection committee report recommended urgent review of Palamur’s registration to breed and experiment on animals, as well as the rehabilitation of all 1,200+ animals housed there. The report cited inadequate animal handling, housing, euthanasia practices, and veterinary care. A historic first information report (FIR) was registered against the facility for animal abuse – the first time an FIR has been registered against an animal experimentation laboratory in India.

On 10 July 2025, Justice Sachin Datta of the High Court of Delhi ordered CCSEA to take interim remedial steps against Palamur Biosciences and prohibited the facility from procuring or housing any new animals as the matter was being heard. On 16 September 2025, The High Court ordered Palamur to take “immediate rectificatory steps” in terms of a fresh Court-ordered inspection. On 25 September 2025, The High Court further directed Palamur to properly rehabilitate the 73 beagles “in scrupulous compliance with the regulatory mechanism”.

In December 2025, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public warning letter to Palamur citing “serious violations” of Good Laboratory Practice regulations and “systemic failures” in oversight that call into question the quality and integrity of safety data generated at the facility. The FDA also cited serious animal welfare concerns, echoing whistleblower-led complaints raised by PETA India.

“Despite a scathing government inspection report documenting horrific abuse and a court order for action, animals continue to languish in miserable cages at Palamur Biosciences, including beagles and others eligible for rehabilitation,” says PETA India Scientist and Research Policy Advisor Dr Anjana Aggarwal. “PETA India hopes that the court will compel action to rehabilitate these animals now in loving homes and sanctuary settings as an immediate measure, to finally implement the government-appointed inspectors’ recommendation that all the animals at the facility be removed and to hold this facility accountable for cruelty to the fullest extent of the law.”

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on or abuse in any other way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about PETA India’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow PETA India on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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