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This pamphlet explains
some of the legal instruments that are available for preventing animal
sacrifices and discusses ways by which we can create for an awareness
and work towards curbing this problem.
Why animal sacrifices?
It is amazing that in this modern age, the relatinship of a human being
and his God should still be measured in terms of an exchange or barter:
you give something and you get something back. This is the underlying
principle of animal sacrifice. It is another matter that no religion in
the world preaches violence or orders the death of any living creature.
However, even if one were to believe in the sanctity of sacrifice, it
would be based on the fact that God would not want the human to perform
a random act of violence or murder, but that the human should sacrifice
something he loves/desires in return for something that he wants even
more. In this case, buying an animal and killing it slowly after inflicting
torture is a meaningless exercise. This is why most modern societies have
abandoned such practices.
On the contrary, in India there has been a growth in the number of sacrifices
in the 20th century. In a country where there is distaste and condemnation
of the sacrifices that take place on Bakr Id, it is disheartening that
the number of animals sacrificed in Hindu temples per week is larger than
the number of goats on Bakr Id. So, in effectHindus kill more animals
in a year than Muslims for the propitiation of various grama devatas,
the most common of which is Kali in various forms (such as Maramma). The
tribals kill more animals than both Hindus and Muslims combined, and their
killing is much more dangerous because they kill only wild animals and
in huge numbers, including foxes, bats, mongoose, mithuns, peacocks, wild
hare, snakes, wild buffalo, deer, monkeys, jungle cats, herons, slender
loris, pelicans and egrets. All these animals are now severely endangered.
Festivals such as that in Simlipal mainly revolve around killing animals
that no longer have any religious basis. Sacrifices are now simply hiding
under the blanket of god-propitiation but are being done at the behest
of animal skin/bone/meat sellers to serve some commercial interest. Even
the hair of the mongoose is collected and sold to companies manufacturing
paintbrushes for children. But their killing in the name of god still
continues.
In addition to weekly rituals, thousands of one particular species of
animal are killed in yearly rituals. Makar Sankranti festival which heralds
the onset of the sowing season, is now celebrated with the beating and
killing of hundreds of foxes. Nag Panchami which is associated with the
farmer's harvest season, results in the death of lakhs of snakes-ironically,
the farmer's best friend. Snakes are pulled out of their holes, kept for
weeks in baskets and then are taken to cities for one day where they are
taken on display from house to house and made to drink milk. All the snakes
die. Some from drinking milk which is fatal for snakes. Some from being
manhandled - as the snakes are stretched like ropes across the shoulders
of young men, who want to show off their bravery, which causes internal
bleeding. Some from having their fangs pulled out so viciously that half
their mouths are ripped off. The persons displaying the snakes know this
will happen and want this to happen. Why? Because the entire festival
is done for the benefit of tradesmen who will buy the dead snakes and
rip their skin off to make wallets and shoes.
This is typical of all animal sacrifice. ALL ANIMAL SACRIFICE IN INDIA
IS PROPELLED BY COMMERCIAL INTERESTS. The sociology and economics of this
practice are simple :
In olden days, the village priest was fed and looked after by the village.
The priest made his extra income from the donations offered to the idol
in the form of small change, flowers and a couple of fruit. The offerings
have not changed over time. However, the priest is no longer supported
by the village. To make ends meet, he encourages flower and fruit shops
to be set up near the temple so that the fruit and flowers can be sold
back at a low rate and recycled several times. The small ribbon/chunni/puffed
rice, small mithai shop is set up for the same purpose. But these shops
function only on temple festival days so the priest is not assured of
a daily income. He then forms an unholy triumvirate with the money lender
and the butcher What happens next?
The priest has a dream or a vision in which the gramdevi has said that
some horrible things will befall the harvest or the rains will fail or
some such calamitous event will take place if animals are not brought
to her. This superstition is assiduously spread and like a Chinese whisper
it mutates in the telling. People come forward with their own stories
about villages in which terrible things happened because animals were
not sacrificed.
Money is then borrowed from the moneylender to finance the buying of animals,
which are then sacrificed. Land, household goods or part of the harvest
is pledged in exchange for this money. A portion of the animal sacrificed
is given to the priest and this is sold cheap to the butcher. The illegal
liquor trade is also benefited as the sacrifice is usually accompanied
by consumption of alcohol. If the predicted event does not take place
it is because of the sacrifice; if it does, then the sacrifice has been
inadequate and the number of animals should be increased.
Very soon this becomes part of village "culture" and "tradition". Its
comparative recentness is forgotten. Then, sacrifices spread to provide
for varied wishes, such as a boy-child, a good groom, an illness, exams
or water in a well. The priest and the moneylender encourage this thinking
because it increases their revenue.
When these wishes are made and money taken from the moneylender to buy
the animals, the villagers indebtedness increases. Very often the villager
has to pledge his small landholiding. Since most animal sacrifices are
done in the dry season before a harvest, the sacrificer is at his lowest
monetary level and therefore has nothing to
buy the animal with except his projected harvest or his land. Studies
show that animal sacrifice causes a certain percentage of rural bankruptcy.
The second type of temple animal sacrifice occurs when a temple priest
decides that his temple needs to have a USP (unique selling proposition)
to attract people to increase his own status and his earnings. For instance,
a small "thanksgiving room" is consturcted in a village temple, which
is paid for by an extra in a film in return for her having got a job,
however minor, in films. The priest advertises this small room as a temple
in which, if offerings of animals are made to the goddess, aspirants could
become film stars. Today, the temple is covered with blood, a meat market
has opened nearby and the priest is in business. Yet another temple claims
that if animals are sacrificed to it, no snakes will bite the villagers
and bitten victims will recover. This temple also has a large number of
animals sacrificed every day. In each case the meat is sold to meat sellers.
Not only do to the economics of the village go awry but it puts power
into the hands of a feudal and unenlightened hierarchy which uses superstition
as its weapons. A large number of sacrifices being conducted in places
like Bihar and Orissa are controlled by members of the ex-royalty who
lead and encourage the killing. In Kalahandi, for instance, it is the
royal family that encourages the killing of over 20,000 animals, all of
whom have been bought with the help of moneylenders who are allied to
the ex-royal family. During elections, this nexus
also influences
the voting patterns as the villagers are now in debt. Animal sacrifice
is also used to make and strengthen caste divisions. For instance only
the upper castes can sacrifice. This reaffirms their hold on the temple
structure, isolating scheduled castes and creating more social tensions.
Animal sacrifice cannot be treated as a part of Indian culture. Even in
sacrifices that claim to be ancient, if one studies the reason why they
began, it will be seen that the original reason is either extremely trivial
or has nothing to do with animal sacrifice at all but that the tale has
become twisted over the years. Practices like thuggee, sati, child marriage
and caste differentiation are also part of an ancient culture and they
have been strictly banned by law because they are not conducive for the
social harmony. Similarly, animal sacrifice should also be banned.
Laws that prohibit animal sacrifice
Though Article 51 of the Directive Principles of the Constitution of India
states that individuals should show kindness and compassion towards all
living beings, animals continue to be slaughtered in a cruel and illegal
manner for the purpose of sacrifice.
Specific laws prohibiting animal sacrifice have been passed only in a
few states of India. These states are, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat,
Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The rules regarding animal
sacrifices
in all these states roughly contain the same facts. Section 2(b) of
the Andhra Pradesh Animals and Birds Sacrifices (Prohibition) Act, 1950,
defines "sacrifice" as the killing or maiming of any animal or bird for
the purpose of any religious worship or adoration.
These Acts specifically prohibit any person from officiating, performing,
assisting or participating in any sacrifice. It also maintains that no
one can knowingly allow such a sacrifice to be performed at any place
of religious worship or place under his control.
The penalty for contravention extends to a fine and/ or imprisonment.
In so far as the other states which lack such specific Acts, the following
legal provisions can be used:
Local
Municipal Corporation Acts : These Acts prohibit the slaughter of
any animal within a corporation area, other than in the licensed slaughter
house. Since temples and streets, where animal sacrifices usually occur,
are unlicensed, it becomes illegal to slaughter animals at these places.
Pollution
Act : This Act incidentally comes under the Local Corporation Act.
It prohibits any act of animal sacrifice in a public place on the ground
that they will cause pollution.
Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 : This Act applies wherever the animals
are being treated or transported in such a way that it causes pain and
suffering to them. It also applies wherever the animals are kept in cages/receptacles
that are too small to allow for reasonable movement or are being tethered
for long periods with very short and heavy chains. The Act also applies
wherever the animals are made to walk long distances (over-driving) or
are beaten, kicked and generally ill treated.
Wildlife
(Protection) Act, 1972 : This Act prohibits damage to any wild animal,
which is considered to be Government property. The definition of an "animal"
in the Act include amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals and their young.
In the case of birds and reptiles, even their eggs are included in this
category.
Indian
Penal Code(IPC) : Section 268 of IPC, 1860 enables a person to file
a charge sheet to prohibit the sale of the meat obtained from the sacrificed
animals, in any public place, other than those which are registered for
this purpose.
What can you do?
Create awareness
about the problem, by doing the following :
Write to each Superintendent of Police and District Collector on the
law and how it is being broken in your area.
Contact local political parties and tell them to take up the matter.
Make a list of all religious and political leaders in your area and meet
them.
Make linkages with other social welfare groups/ environmental groups/Jains/Rotarians,
etc.
put up posters to ask for support from colleagues and community centres.
Make press releases, take the media to the site of sacrifices. Get newspapers
to focus and continue writing about the problem. Take photographs yourself
and circulate among press.
Give copies of relevant laws to the local police in English and the
local language to Police Station, Administrators, Media and Schools.
Give small advertisements in cinema slides. These slides can also be
given to local cable channels. They may be carried free in the local theatre
but you will have to make the slides.
Get videos on the topic made and show them at selected gatherings.
Ask the police to carry advertisements in the paper, informing the public
that such animal sacrifices are forbidden and also the penalties for the
same. (If the police do not put the advertisement, some local private
parties, Rotary/Jain groups may sponsor it).
Write at least one letter a day to a newspaper. Keep them short, informative
and graphic so that they will be printed regularly.
Train small dance-drama troupes, harikatha people in the area, in such
a way that they are in a position to give performances based on the issue
of anti-animal sacrifice.
Give messages on the radio.
Ask local doctors, teachers and mailmen associations to take a public
stand and to propagate it in their daily dealings with the public.
Stick posters at temple walls, doctors clinic, local village teachers
homes, post offices, maternity centres, etc., that should contain a warning
against animal sacrifices.
For working towards banning animal sacrifices, you can :
Go to your MLA and ask him to raise a question written by you in the
assembly on specific locations where sacrifice is taking place and what
the authorities are doing about them.
Get local councilors/zila parishad members to raise such questions and
act on it.
List all the sacrifices in each locality in your area.
Make a small group in each village who will act on your behalf and/or
give you information.
Get lawyers to file stays against conducting of sacrifice naming officials.
This cannot be done immediately before an event but should be done at
least one month earlier, so that the named officials have time to stop
the event.
Ask the local SP if he can put together a group of policemen whom you
and your group can train with regard to provisions of the Act and its
associated Acts. Many SPs will allow groups of 15-20 people to be trained.
This usually will not take more than an hour. You can go to the Local
Police Station if required.
If the SP/DC does not respond to your requests, move the High Court
to direct local administrators to make public that animal sacrifice is
illegal.
Write a letter to the pujari/administrator of each temple in your area,
telling them that your teams will be coming for inspection to make sure
there is no sacrifice. If there is any sacrifice, he will be taken to
Court.
Ask the SP of your area to create special police officers under the
Prevention of Cruelties Act, 1960 so that they can accompany you to do
necessary police work.
Ask the local SP to call all priests/temple administrators for a meeting
where in the legal penalties for animal sacrifices can be explained clearly.
Approach local wildlife wardens if wild animals are being sacrificed.
Again, they must be approached well in advance so that teams can work
with the villages in advance.
Talk to sarpanch, local panchayat leaders about hazards to health coming
about due to such sacrifices.
Write to the Endowment Commissioner under whom most temples come. If
sacrifices take place in spite of this, when filing a writ in Court, mention
the Commissioner by name.
Work towards amending the Money Lenders Act so that money cannot be
lent for the purpose of animal sacrifice.
Give awards to people who either have stopped or have helped stop animal
sacrifice at any level.
Work towards establishing a Bureau for the Prevention of Animal Sacrifice,
which will not only collect data on on-going sacrifices but will also
interact with local officers in the district.
It should however be realized that any such act as listed above, if done
in a single swoop will only build up local hostility and in reaction lead
to more sacrifices. It is therefore important to anticipate the event
and file an FIR/ private complaint/writ/PIL well in advance. This will
give local administrators sufficient time to try and act towards preventing
such cruelty.
No animal sacrifice can be stopped in a single day or two, if there is
no build up of public opinion. The climate for banning should be set up
months before the event. Remember that if it is stopped once it is unlikely
to take place ever again.
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