PETA India has called for India to make sexual abuse of animals an expressly defined criminal offence. Its 2018 and 2021 appeals sought an amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, including making the offence cognisable and strengthening cruelty penalties. PETA’s current campaign instead asks for a provision in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. The cited material does not establish that either proposed change has been enacted and commenced.
What PETA India asked the government to change
PETA India’s central request has been to specify in law that sexual activity or intercourse between a person and an animal is an offence, rather than relying on general animal-cruelty provisions. The organisation has also sought stronger penalties for cruelty.
In its 1 August 2018 appeal, PETA asked Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to amend the PCA Act so bestiality would be a cognisable offence. It also asked the Home and Law ministries to retain criminalisation of bestiality while revising the language of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) concerning consensual adult sex. These were PETA’s advocacy requests, not findings by a court.
PETA renewed its request on 19 March 2021, appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Giriraj Singh for a PCA Act amendment covering sexual assault on animals as a cognisable offence.
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How the campaign developed
The 2018 Nuh goat case
PETA said reports that eight men allegedly gang-raped and killed a pregnant goat in Nuh (Mewat), Haryana, prompted its 2018 letter to the environment minister. The allegation should not be mistaken for a court finding. PETA also said it worked with Nuh police to obtain a First Information Report citing IPC Sections 377 and 429 and PCA Act Sections 11(1)(a) and 11(1)(l).
PETA India CEO Dr Manilal Valliyate said: “The fear and pain this goat must have felt during this horrific, depraved assault is hard to comprehend.” The statement reflects PETA’s response to the reported case.
The 2021 appeal and later campaign wording
In 2021, PETA renewed its call for a cognisable sexual-assault offence under the PCA Act. Its current campaign page asks Home Minister Amit Shah to amend the BNS to penalise sexual abuse of animals, shifting the proposed legislative home from the PCA Act to the newer criminal code. PETA’s campaign statement says it wants people found harming animals punished to the fullest extent of the law and calls for stronger PCA Act penalties “for the entire community’s safety.”
What the 2022 draft amendment proposed
A draft Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill hosted by PRS in 2022 offered specific language and penalties. It defined “bestiality” as “any kind of sexual activity or intercourse between human being and animal” and included it within proposed “gruesome cruelty.” The draft is evidence of a proposal, not proof that Parliament passed it or that it commenced as law.
| Framework or proposal | Definition or legal treatment | Penalty information in the cited material | Status established by the cited material |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCA Act framework described by PETA in 2018 | PETA sought an express bestiality offence and asked that it be cognisable. The 2018 account also describes an FIR invoking existing animal-cruelty provisions. | PETA said the maximum fine for a first-time PCA Act cruelty offence was Rs 50. | That PETA made the request is established; the sources here do not establish the full current statutory position or whether later amendments changed it. |
| Draft PCA Act amendment, 2022 | Defined bestiality as sexual activity or intercourse between a human being and an animal, and placed it within proposed “gruesome cruelty.” | For specified gruesome cruelty, the draft proposed a minimum fine of Rs 50,000, extendable to Rs 75,000 or the animal’s cost, and imprisonment of one to three years, or both. | Draft text hosted by PRS; enactment and commencement are not established here. |
| PETA’s current BNS campaign | Asks for a BNS provision penalising sexual abuse of animals. | Not stated on the cited campaign page in the material available here. | The campaign request is established; passage and commencement of the requested provision are not established here. |
Is bestiality a cognisable offence in India?
PETA has specifically asked the government to make bestiality a cognisable offence, first in its PCA Act appeal and again in 2021. That request alone does not establish the present legal classification. The cited sources do not establish whether an express PCA Act or BNS provision was enacted and commenced, or whether bestiality is currently classified as cognisable under applicable law. A definitive answer requires checking the current official Gazette or India Code text, including commencement provisions and any applicable amendments.
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What the cited sources do—and do not—show
- They document PETA India’s 2018 and 2021 PCA Act appeals, its reported account of the Nuh case and FIR, the 2022 draft wording, and the current campaign’s BNS request.
- They do not establish that the 2022 draft became law, or that PETA’s requested BNS amendment passed and commenced.
- PETA’s current campaign page repeats a claim that a forensic-criminology study found people who engage in animal cruelty were three times more likely to commit other crimes. The underlying paper and its publication year are not established in the cited material here, so this should be treated as PETA’s campaign-page claim, not as an independently verified finding.
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