Kota: 60-Year-Old Man Arrested For Allegedly Raping Female Stray Dog

The Kota police on Sunday arrested a 60-year-old man for allegedly raping a female stray dog.

"We have arrested Ram Swaroop (60), on Sunday. We were looking for him since the FIR was lodged", Ganga Sahay Sharma, Station House Officer at Kunadi in Kota said.

The First Information Report (FIR)  was lodged on September 1, 2021, following the complaint lodged by a citizen with the help of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India.

The FIR references Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which makes carnal intercourse with an animal a punishable offence with imprisonment for life, and Section 11 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.

"Violent people often start by abusing animals and then move on to targeting human victims. Therefore, this case should worry everyone," says PETA India Emergency Response Assistant Kabir Bhanu Das.

PETA India has urged the Centre to include bestiality as a cognisable offence in an amendment to the PCA Act and to introduce stronger penalties for cruelty to animals under this Act.

" While the IPC carries stronger punishments, currently the maximum penalty for abusing an animal under the PCA Act is a mere Rs 50 fine. Several recent cases of sexual abuse of animals signify the need for harsher penalties under the PCA Act to ensure that it acts as a deterrent for potential offenders", reads the press release issued by the PETA.

"The cases include the following-- a man in West Bengal was arrested for dragging a stray dog into his house and raping the animal, a security guard regularly raped a resident female stray dog in a washroom in Mumbai, police found video footage of an accused murderer in Kerala sexually assaulting a goat, and a carpenter in Kerala was arrested for sexually abusing a dog. In addition, two men, aged 25 and 50, were arrested and charged for raping a cow in separate incidents in Madhya Pradesh, and an 18-year-old from Delhi was charged for committing bestiality on a calf", the press release said.