A female dog was brutally raped inside the posh Galleria shopping mall of Mumbai. The news is very much shocking but more than that news I was worried about the mentality of a man, what are these men up to? Leave alone women and children, it seems even the animals are not safe from sexual predators. These days, there are many such humanity shaming incidences are taking place in India. Last year a man was caught ‘raping’ a 9-month-old calf in Avanti Nagar area of Hyderguda in Hyderabad. The accused was caught red-handed while he was indulging in the criminal act.

The eyewitness immediately contacted police. The abuse of animals has been going on for years. Similarly in May 2020, a man was caught on CCTV camera raping cows at a shelter in Ayodhya. Later, the incident prompted the shelter volunteers to keep a close watch on the man. The accused then returned to the shelter and attempted to sexually assault the animals again. But he was caught by the volunteers who were already waiting for him. There was news that hit the headlines, a 40-year-old man who sodomised a female stray dog in Maharashtra’s Thane district. From being handled viciously by circus crews to being subjugated for resources, animals in India have been subjected to suffering for years. It must be noted that laws laid down in the Constitution of India have not been able to deter sadists from torturing animals. Since seven months of lockdown, many animals have been subjected to rape and molestation. Several instances of animal cruelty have been reported to the police. These instances hold testimony to the lack of apathy and humanity that is slowly intense humans.

In September, a man threw a stray dog into the Upper Lake of Madhya Pradesh while another person filmed the incident. The man could be seen giggling while looking at the camera after he threw the canine into the water body. On August 19, another incident of animal brutality came to light from Kerala. In Malappuram, 5 men allegedly hunted a pregnant buffalo and killed it. Buffalo meat was also recovered from the house of one of the accused. On July 22, a man was seen burning alive a kitten. This incident was from Hyderabad. In the video of the incident, the man could be seen setting the kitten on fire with a lighter as it continued to cry in pain. On July 8, a man was arrested for allegedly raping a cow at a dairy in Sundar Nagar, Madhya Pradesh. The obscene act performed by the man was recorded on the CCTV camera installed at the facility and the accused was arrested.

These instances and several others prove that there is a failing sense of humanity in the country and the same is leading to a swift rise in crimes against animals. Next time you are horrified about somebody’s appalling behavior, think twice before saying: “He/she behaved worse than an animal.” Because “worse than an animal” has become the behavioral norm for humans — at least, some humans. Lately, the number of cases of animals being raped is horrifying, even to those souls that are fairly desensitized now to animals being beaten up and physically harmed for brutal sport. One of the two cases of animals being raped in Delhi-NCR registered last year reportedly has shown a suspect from Ghaziabad — where a bitch was recovered dead from a road after being allegedly tied to a moving bike and dragged along the road. People for Animals (PFA) India — has noted that it was an attempt to rape the dog, and has alleged that there were bruises near the vaginal area of the bitch. For those who have been living under a rock and think this was an isolated incident, here are some episodes that have left us sick, disgusted — and ashamed to be called humans. These are reported cases, think about all those unreported cases. Who would speak for those animals?

On July 29, 2018, a pregnant goat was reportedly gang-raped by eight men in Haryana. The goat that went missing was later found dead by the owner. It was allegedly stolen, thrashed and raped by the accused. It succumbed to the trauma and died. Reportedly, one of the accused met the owner of the goat and admitted that he had raped her and even said that he had a nice time.

In August 2017, a 34-year-old man was accused of raping a female puppy to death in Delhi. The puppy later bled to death. Not only did the accused — Naresh Kumar — boast about the incident to an animal lover, he also led him to the carcass. A post-mortem report confirmed rape and death due to excessive bleeding from private parts as well as shock. The police reportedly refused to register a case initially. When the locals mounted pressure, a case was registered against maiming and killing the puppy — not against bestiality which comes under section 377 of the IPC.

In January 2018, a man who worked as a labourer at a cowshed in Vadodara raped three cows. Later in the morning, the owner found that the legs of three cows were tied with rope and one was lying dead. Of course, the cows garnered more sympathy from the locals than cases of the dogs, or perhaps even the goat did. Locals claimed that their religious sentiments were hurt, and predictably, a case was registered against the accused under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code that addresses acts intended to outrage religious feelings — a far more arduous section under the penal code than the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

While these cases of utmost brutality are on the rise, there is an acute dearth of laws to protect animals from cases of sexual abuse — giving the depraved and psychopaths the conviction to get away from the law. Right from stage one; there is apathy in filing FIRs. The animals, after all, cannot understand the court’s orders and speak up for their rights. Even if the case is registered, the question arises of what section of the Indian Penal Code should it be registered under? While the Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals Act, 1960 (PCA) deals with the cognizance of a host of possibilities of treating animals cruelly, including maiming, injuring, killing, practising phooka (the forceful blowing of air into a cow’s vagina or anus to induce it to produce more milk), experiments on animals, restricting exhibition and training of performing animals, human perversion seems to be rising beyond its present purview.

The maximum punishment under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960 is a fine of Rs 50 rupees or imprisonment of up to three months or both. But what about Rape, do you think, it’s ok because the victim is still an animal and the accused is Man? Bestiality (sexual intercourse between a person and an animal) is a crime under section 377 of the IPC. The apex court had upheld that the law will stand on the statute book to deal with unnatural sexual offenses against animals such as bestiality. But most people — including the police — are not aware of this. Furthermore, the section does not address the extreme cruelty meted out against the animals, but only criminalizes the penetrative sexual intercourse with an animal. Activists have been urging the government to amend the PCA and include bestiality as a cognizable offense in the light of the latest depravity. If the human urge to rape cannot be controlled, it is time we consider tying humans up, rather than animals.