The Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960

Details of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960.

1. THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMAL ACT, 1960 1

2. Mr. Shaktiprasad Pradhan M.Pharm, Ph.D* Research Professional, UDPS [email protected] Utkal University, Bhubaneswar Odisha, India 2

3. THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMAL ACT, 1960 3

4. Introduction The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act , is an Act of the  Parliament of India enacted on December 26, 1960 . This Act enacted to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals and to amend the laws relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals. Animals are highly useful & kept as pets, beast of burdens, tools for various scientific experimentations etc. Animals have been defined to include all species of animals (except man) and birds. 4

5. Cruelty roughly means inflicting of unnecessary pain or suffering to animals. Unnecessary pain or suffering is both unethical as well inhuman. Uses of animals in experiments are done for establishing the therapeutic efficacy & safety of many drugs . Provisions of Pharmaceutical interest which relate to “Experimentation on Animals” have been discussed. 5

6. OBJECTIVES 6

7. Objectives The Act was enacted in 1960 to prevent infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals as well as to prevent cruelty to animals. This Act extends to whole of India including the state J&K. 7

8. EXPERIMENTATION ON ANIMALS 8

9. Experimentation on Animals Experimentation on animals serves as a tool for the advancement of the Medical, Pharmaceutical & Biological sciences since animals are very much similar to human systems. In Pharmaceutical field animals are used for the production of sera, vaccines, hormones, enzymes etc. 9

10. . 10

11. All these processes require animals to be incised , dissected & sometimes also to be killed . The Act provides for the constitution of Committee/s to look after the various aspects of experimentations on animals, to supervise & control their use for experimentations thereby saving them from any avoidable pain or injury . 11

12. CONSTITUTION OF COMMITTEE & IT’S FUNCTION 12

13. Constitution of Committee The Committee constituted by this Act, consists of : Two (02) members each from the ICMR, ICAR & CSIR are to be nominated by the Central Government. Two (02) members representing Universities granting Medical & Veterinary degree are to be nominated by the Central Government. One (01) member each of the Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha has to be elected by the houses respectively. Five (05) persons actively engaged in the promotion of animal welfare are to be nominated by the Central Government. 13

14. The Committee is authorized to make the rules which provide for the following matters. If the experiments are performed in an institution, the head of the institution shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the provisions of the Act & where the experiments are carried out by individuals, they shall be qualified & be responsible for avoidance of cruelty to the animals. The experiments should be far as possible be performed while the animals are under the influence of an anaesthetic & if the animals are so injured during the course of the experiment that their recovery would involve serious suffering they should be destroyed while still insensible . ( Cont.) 14

15. Where small animal such as rats, frogs, rabbits, etc. can be used for an experiment the use of large animals should be avoided . If it is possible to substitute the use of animals by devices such as models, books, charts, films etc. such substitution should be made. Experiments on animals should not be performed just for the sake of acquiring manual skill . Animals intended to be used for experiments should be properly looked after before & after the experiments & records of experiments performed should be maintained . The functions of the Committee include inspection along with the prohibition of certain experiments.   15

16. Inspection The Committee may authorise any of its officers or any other person to inspect any institution or place where experiments on animals are being carried out & to inspect the records to be maintained under the Act. Prohibition of Experimentations The Committee is empowered to prohibit any person or institution from carrying out experiments for a definite period of time or indefinitely or impose any special conditions for the performance of experiments if the Committee is of the view that the person or institution is not carrying out experiments on animals in accordance with the prescribed rules.   16

17. PENALTIES IN THE ACT 17

18. Penalties Contravention of any order of the Committee or breach of any condition imposed by the Committee is punishable with a fine extending up to Rs. 200 . 18

19. References Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960 . https://www.animallaw.info/statute/cruelty prevention-cruelty-animals-act-1960 . https://www.insightsonindia.com/2017/05/29/insights-daily-current-affairs-29-may-2017 / . https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevention_of_Crueltyto_Animals_Act . Dr. S. P. Agarwal , Dr. R. Knanna . Pharmaceutical Jurisprudence & Ethics (Forensic Pharmacy). Birla Publications Pvt. Ltd . Dr. B. S. Kuchekar. Pharmaceutical Jurisprudence. Pragati Books Pvt. Ltd . 19

20. Thank You 20