New Delhi, Sep 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice on a PIL seeking declaration of the entire animal kingdom, including avian and aquatic species, as "legal entities".
A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, while hearing the PIL, asked what kind of a prayer it was.
"You (petitioner) want the entire animal kingdom to be treated as a legal entity... You want us to declare animals capable of suing and being sued? Animals are recognised as entities having protection of law," the Chief Justice observed.
The petition has been filed by Allahabad-based NGO - People's Charioteer Organisation (PCO), and its Secretary, Legal Cell, advocate Devesh Saxena, who argued the matter as petitioner-in-person.
Saxena contended before the bench that such a prayer for according legal status to the entire animal kingdom has already been granted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2019 and the Uttarakhand High Court in 2018.
The bench asked the petitioner whether he was seeking that animals be given a legal personality. As the petitioner argued that animals are treated as property, Chief Justice Bobde said: "But they are not equal to you. Is your dog your equal?"
Noting that animals have protection under various statutes, the Chief Justice said then should they make trees legal entities also?
At this, the petitioner submitted that situation is bad, as animals are being hurt. "Religious texts have been placed on record. They (animals) are equal to human beings, lower in strata in evolution. They have feelings, intentions," he contended.
The bench noted that the petitioner is suggesting an increase in liability. "We understand humans should be punished for hurting animals, but we are on the legal entity argument," it said
The petitioner responded: "They still have souls and intellect."
He also argued that similar legal status had already been granted to rivers, idols, and temples only for the sole purpose of their welfare and protection and that the core purpose of the legal system is to protect the vulnerable from exploitation and to ensure fairness.
The Chief Justice said the court would delete the prayer seeking direction for declaring the entire animal kingdom, including avian and aquatic species, as "legal entities", but will issue notice in the matter.
The plea also had other prayers seeking publication of data and statistics relating to animal cruelty and measures taken for lodging an FIR whenever an incident of animal cruelty surfaces.
"Over time, our kinship with them (animals) has morphed into abuse in which the welfare of animals is highly compromised. Now we see animals purely for their utility; in fact, a perception has been created that humans always have precedence over animals. It has now become common practice to inflict cruelty upon them," the plea argued.
Source: IANS
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