Three MLAs from Uttarakhand have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the government to amend the the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 in the ongoing winter session of the parliament. 

In letters addressed to Prime Minister Modi, Vikasnagar MLA Munna Singh Chauhan, Sahaspur MLA Sahadev Singh Pundir and Dehradun Cantt MLA Harbans Kapoor have urged the government to amend the PCA Act in the ongoing parliament session.

“Penalty prescribed in the act is Rs 50 which was a substantial amount in 1960 but not in 2021. Animal abusers have been able to take advantage of this and continue to inflict unfathomable amount of cruelty on animals. There is an urgent need to amend the penal provisions of the act,” Chauhan in his letter.

Pundir and Kapoor have also written to the PM requesting that the government consider increasing the penalty under PCA Act during this winter session of parliament.

“Animals across the country suffer immense cruelty every single day with constant abuse and neglect. India needs stringent penalties that act as a deterrent for the offenders,” said Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) member and Ahimsa fellow Rubina Nitin Iyer while requesting other MPs and MLAs of Uttarakhand to write to the Prime Minister urging the government to make the law more robust.

Fellows from the Ahimsa Fellowship programme have been working with elected public representatives to push for an amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 in the ongoing winter session of the parliament.