A report on December 2 in Dhaka Tribune stated that, approximately a week ago a stray mother dog gave birth to eight puppies in the courtyard of the government residence of Hasnur Rahman Nayon, the Ishwardi upazila officer of the Small Farmers Development Foundation.

Later, the puppies suddenly disappeared. On the morning of December 1, the mother dog was seen running around the parishad premises, whimpering loudly looking for the newborn puppies. It was eventually discovered that the puppies had been thrown into a pond and killed. Later, the dead puppies were recovered from the pond and buried.

The incident has stirred the minds of many across the country and abroad.

Subsequently, on December 2, the Ishwardi Upazila Livestock Officer filed a case under under Section 7 of the Animal Welfare Act, 2019  (although a few newspaper reports mentioned quoting Ishwardi Police Station Officer-in-Charge ASM Abdun Noor that the case was filed under section 429 of the Penal Code of 1860) at the local police station when the adviser of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock ordered her to take necessary action.

As a result, the wife of the Upazila Small Farmers Foundation official was arrested the next day while the Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-1 ordered to send her to jail.

Now the question is this: Why is cruelty towards animals not decreasing despite the existence of an enactment titled the Animal Welfare Act that passed in the parliament in 2019?

What the law says

If we look at history, it is seen that before the 2019 law, a century old law called “the Cruelty to Animals Act” of 1920 was in force in this land; which was amended to prevent cruelty to animals, show kind treatment and ensure animal welfare, which is also mentioned in the preamble of the new law.

Although the 2019 law is progressive compared to the former 1920 law; there are several significant loopholes in this law. And therefore, this newly enacted law is also unable to ensure prevention of cruelty to animals, show kind treatment, responsible husbandry, and protection of animals  in the country.

A vital limitation of the 2019’s Act is that no court can take cognizance of any offense committed under this Act without a written complaint from the authority under section 18. Hence, there is no scope for any citizen or aggrieved person to file a case or seek redress under this Act.

According to the Act, the authority means the Director General of the Department of Livestock or any veterinary surgeon of the said Department authorized by him (Section 2(4)). Therefore, no one can directly file a case under this Act to seek redress; at most, can file a GD with the police station concerned.

Instead of filing a case, any person who wants to take legal action has to approach the Department of Livestock and in these cases, unnecessary time is wasted, and various harassments are seen due to countless bureaucratic complications in the country.

Unless there is a stir on social media or there is video of occurrence or some responsible person takes initiative, usually no action is taken in these cruel cases.

Thus, the real purpose of animal welfare is limited to the statute, not seen in reality in Bangladesh. And that is why in most cases, citizens are forced to file cases under the Penal Code, 1860 bypassing the Animal Welfare Act. Section 429 of the Penal Code provides that if anyone kills or harms an animal and if the value of any animal is Tk50 or upwards, that person shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or with fine or with both.

On the contrary, the Animal Welfare Act prescribes punishment depending on the nature and extent of the crime. The crime committed under this Act is non-cognizable and bailable. Though, the offense committed under section 429 of the Penal Code is cognizable, meaning that the police can arrest the accused without a warrant, but the offense is also a bailable offense. Therefore, it is not clear why the accused was sent to jail without bail.

However, the complication of filing a case for cruelty against animals under the Penal Code is that if the animal is not owned by anyone, then determining the monetary value stated in the Code is not possible.

In that case, it becomes difficult to prove such a case before the court. On the other hand, the Animal Welfare Act makes killing both owned and unowned animals a crime. Moreover, no ownerless animal can be killed, culled, removed, relocated without the reasons mentioned in the Act.

What truly happens

Nonetheless, cruel, violent, and inhumane treatment of animals is not a new phenomenon in the context of Bangladesh. It is true that people's interest and awareness towards animal welfare has increased compared to before. Yet, it has not reached the desired level.

There are therefore often reports of animals being killed by groups or individuals. In some cases, even local authorities lead these killings.

In 2020, the country's highest court ruled a ban on dog culling after a writ petition filed by a private animal welfare organization. As a result, the Dhaka City Corporation was forced to stop dog culling and promised to implement a neutering and vaccination program for neighbourhood dogs.

However, vaccination programs have not spread throughout the country, resulting in a kind of fear of dogs among a significant number of people. Moreover, there remains a lack of budget, training, initiative, coordination, etc, for such a program.

It is a shame that, while confinement of animals through conventional zoos around the world is being gradually eradicated, in our country, planning and investment in this regard is essentially invisible.

On the contrary, news of importing new animals to Dhaka Zoo is often reported. In the meantime, it was reported that a lioness in the zoo left its cage on December 5. Although this incident did not bring any sad news, the lion's decrepit health has saddened animal lovers.

There is some hope though, even if brief.

In addition to the news of the arrest in the puppies’ killing incident on December 3, another report covered an event that distributed compensation cheques to affected people as a result of wild elephants entering cropland.

In a positive spin, the forest department said that elephants were the guests of the locals. Therefore, despite these elephants coming in and eating and destroying crops, the locals were to not harm the elephants, with the government compensating those affected. crops. 11 people were given compensation of Tk 4.35 lakh.

This is undoubtedly a commendable initiative by the forest department and we can only hope that more such initiatives are taken in the country for animal welfare.

On January 14, 2010, the then cabinet approved the proposal to change the Bangla name of the Ministry of Fisheries and Animal Resources and various departments under it, introducing prani instead of poshu to show more sensitivity, and although the Animal Welfare Act was enacted in the country in 2019, brutality has not yet been eliminated from society.

Although the existing Animal Welfare Act, 2019 is important to prevent cruelty against animals, it is still clearly incapable and insufficient to address real challenges.

The Constitution of Bangladesh recognizes the protection and improvement of environment and biodiversity as the responsibility of the state. Now it is high time for the state to fulfill that responsibility.

The law cannot be limited to paper rules and regulations; rather, the legal rights of all animals in the country must be ensured on the basis of human values ​​and justice.

One of the criteria for measuring the moral progress of the citizens of a country is their behaviour towards animals. Therefore, immediate state initiatives and practical actions to ensure animal welfare, such as necessary reforms of the existing legislature, proper enforcement, changes the concept of the traditional zoo, coordination among authorities, enough shelter for unowned animals, adequate budget, awareness, initiatives, campaigning and education on kindness towards animals, will help in instilling love for animals in the minds of people and will prevent the recurrence of such brutal incidents.

Raisul Sourav is a Doctoral Researcher in Law at the University of Galway, Republic of Ireland.