Riteish Deshmukh, Tiger Shroff react on a video showing animal cruelty

Not many people know about 'Factory Farming' —  a large-scale industrial operation that houses thousands of animals raised for food—such as chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs—and treats them with hormones and antibiotics to prevent disease and maximize their growth and food output.

Showing an example of factory farming, activist John Oberg on his Twitter handle shared a video of baby calves who are forced to wear devices preventing them from getting milk from their mother. Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh and Tiger Shroff reacted strongly after watching the video and called it a 'shame'.

SC agrees to hear plea seeking to declare animal kingdom as legal entity

The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a plea which has raised the issue of cruelty on animals and sought to declare entire animal kingdom, including avian and aquatic species, as legal entities having a distinct persona with corresponding rights of a living person.

While issuing notices to the Centre and others seeking their replies on the petition, which has also sought a direction to all the States and Union Territory (UTs) to take action if any case of cruelty on animals comes to light including on social media, the apex court said it is “very unlikely” that it would entertain the prayer for declaring them as legal entity.

During the hearing, the bench asked the counsel appearing for the petitioner, “What you mean is that animals can sue or be sued? That is the meaning of legal entity. Is your dog equal to you?”.

To this, the counsel said that animals can be considered as equal to humans.

The lawyer said when legal status can be given to a temple then why cannot such status be given to animals.

“Animals are vulnerable and if we will grant them this status then they can be protected,” said the lawyer, representing petitioner NGO ‘People’s Charioteer Organization’.

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The plea has said that NCRB should report and publish data and statistics relating to cruelty on animal and crimes against them in its annual report under separate head.

While referring to recent reported incidents of cruelty on animals in the country, the plea has said that such incidents have enraged many and raised a question as to whether existing laws are sufficient enough to protect animals from possible abuse and cruelty.

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It alleged the rights of animals exist only on paper due to their lack of implementation and enforcement.

(with PTI inputs)