The Supreme Court on 9th September issued a notice on a PIL seeking a declaration of the entire animal kingdom, including avian and aquatic species, as “legal entities”.

The petition has been filed by Allahabad-based NGO – People’s Charioteer Organisation (PCO), and its Secretary, Legal Cell, advocate Devesh Saxena, who argued the matter as petitioner-in-person. Saxena contended before the bench that such a prayer for according legal status to the entire animal kingdom has already been granted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2019 and the Uttarakhand High Court in 2018.

The bench asked the petitioner whether he was seeking that animals be given a legal personality. As the petitioner argued that animals are treated as property, Chief Justice Bobde said: “But they are not equal to you. Is your dog your equal?”

At this, the petitioner submitted that situation is bad, as animals are being hurt. “Religious texts have been placed on record. They (animals) are equal to human beings, lower in strata in evolution. They have feelings, intentions,” he contended.

The bench noted that the petitioner is suggesting an increase in liability. “We understand humans should be punished for hurting animals, but we are on the legal entity argument,” it said

He also argued that similar legal status had already been granted to rivers, idols, and temples only for the sole purpose of their welfare and protection and that the core purpose of the legal system is to protect the vulnerable from exploitation and to ensure fairness.

The Chief Justice said the court would delete the prayer seeking direction for declaring the entire animal kingdom, including avian and aquatic species, as “legal entities”, but will issue a notice in the matter. The plea also had other prayers seeking publication of data and statistics relating to animal cruelty and measures taken for lodging an FIR whenever an incident of animal cruelty surfaces.

“Over time, our kinship with them (animals) has morphed into abuse in which the welfare of animals is highly compromised. Now we see animals purely for their utility; in fact, a perception has been created that humans always have precedence over animals. It has now become common practice to inflict cruelty upon them,” the plea argued.

This article does not intend to hurt the sentiments of any individual, community, sect, or religion, etcetera. This article is based purely on the author’s personal opinion and views in the exercise of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Article 19(1)(A) and other related laws being enforced in India for the time being.