Wardha: FIR Registered for Goat Beheading Following Complaint by Environmental Rescue Committee and PETA India

For Immediate Release:

02 May 2026

Contact:

Saloni Sakaria; [email protected]

Anushka Yadav; [email protected]

Wardha – After learning that a goat was sacrificed through beheading in Wardha district, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India) worked with local activist, Gaurav Thakur, Founder of Environmental Rescue Committee, to get a first information report (FIR) registered. The sacrifice, which was performed in full view of the public, was captured on video. The footage shows a man holding the hind legs of a frightened goat while another man beheads the animal.

The Talegaon police station registered the FIR against two accused, Babansingh Santoshsingh Bawri and Jonusingh Gotansingh Bawri, under sections 325 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and sections 3, 11(1)(a) and 11(1)(l) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

Section 325 of the BNS, 2023, categorises the maiming or killing of any animal as a cognisable offence and prescribes a punishment of imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years, or with a fine, or with 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.

“PETA India commends Wardha police for swiftly registering an FIR and sending the message that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated,” says PETA India Associate Manager of Cruelty Response, Saloni Sakaria. “Animal sacrifice is both cruelty to animals and a danger to society. It desensitises us to violence and reinforces obsolete beliefs that hinder progress. Just as human sacrifice is now treated as murder, at a time when India is embarking on space missions, the archaic practice of animal sacrifice must end. It is a necessity for our societal evolution.”

The Supreme Court has ordered that animals can be slaughtered only in licensed slaughterhouses and that municipal authorities must ensure compliance with this ruling. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001, and the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, permit the slaughter of animals for food only in licensed slaughterhouses equipped with species-specific stunning equipment.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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