People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has filed an FIR against a Hyderabad-based businessman, after a video of the businessman and his associates sacrificing 101 goats surfaced. The goats were allegedly sacrificed on Sunday, February 6, at Bagh-e-Jahanara, Madannapet Colony in the city.
The cruel incident was caught on video footage, which shows people posing for photos and videos while standing in front of the frightened goats, who were cornered in a small area. The video then shows the animals being killed in front of each other. Their throats were slit while they were fully conscious, and the slaughter took place in full view of the public in a residential area.
The FIR has been registered under sections 4 and 5(b) of the Telangana Animals and Birds Sacrifice Prohibition Act, 1950, and sections 3, 11(1)(a), 11(1)(l), and 38(3) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.
It is being speculated that the goats were sacrificed when the people involved were praying for the safety and long life of AIMIM leader Asadduddin Owaisi. Owaisi’s car was fired upon recently when he was touring and campaigning in Uttar Pradesh for the ongoing state elections.
Through orders on two matters regarding the sacrifice and killing of animals for meat, the Supreme Court ruled that animals can be slaughtered only in officially 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.
Gujarat, Kerala, Puducherry, and Rajasthan already have laws in place prohibiting religious sacrifice of any animal in any temple or its precinct. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana prohibit it in any place of public religious worship or adoration or its precinct or in any congregation or procession connected with religious worship on a public street.