‘The senior man had cages of kittens to rape’

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Four days ago, a 65-year-old man in Malad was found to have raped a kitten. Disturbingly, he had more of them in cages in his home.

Range forest officers found a uniquely injured ghorpad (monitor lizard) while on their rounds in Ichalkaranji. Investigation revealed that it has been raped by three men.

A woman caught on video her father-in-law raping a dog through penetration on the landing of their apartment building.

A young man, for a lark, videoed his friend pleasuring himself while fondling a dog's testicles. Another dog's testicles were found chopped off. The neighbourhood CCTV revealed that it was done for sexual gratification.

Sushank Tomar with Rani Pari

"Goat rape is routine," says animal rights activist and politician Maneka Gandhi, "as is the rape of cows and calves in dairies and gaushalas." Her organisation, People for Animals, prosecuted 35 cases of animal sexual assault in India last year.

As we speak, Sushank Tomar, founder of Citizens for Animal Protection, is trying to get a dog named Rani Pari justice. It takes repeated appeals to the Police Commissioner and other posts of power to get an FIR filed. The case is currently with Vartak Nagar police station in Thane, and Rani Pari is being treated for maggots that have infested a hole in her vagina. Her uterus is also ruptured.

"A feeder near Cadbury junction in Thane, who works as domestic help, could not find her regular dog on the night of June 28," Tomar tells us between court sessions, "The dog had given birth two weeks ago and they wanted to ensure she had nutrition. She enlisted two watchmen to help her; they found the society bathroom door locked from inside. They could hear a dog yelping. A drunk man finally stumbled out, and Rani Pari was inside - there was blood on the floor and around her vagina."

Vijay Rangare with Laila

The man ran away, and Tomar, an animal welfare officer had Rani Pari checked by a government-appointed vet to attest to rape, and compel the police to file an FIR and trace the culprit with the help of CCTV footage.

In the absence of a law that protects animals from sexual assault, the culprits were charged under Section 325 of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita), the new criminal code that replaced IPC, which makes it a punishable offence to mischievously kill or maim ANY animal. The punishment is jail term of up to five years or fine or both. It covers all animals - wild, companion and farm animals - and can be applied in all cases (irrespective of species of animal) of killing or maiming done with either knowledge or intention of causing such harm.

However, it doesn't cover rape [by penetration], any kind of sexual assault, especially the indiscernible subtle act such as performing or receiving oral sex on an animal, or fondling for sexual gratification, or even overtly cruel such as torture.

Maneka Gandhi

It combines the earlier Indian Penal Code Sections 428 and 429 that provided for punishment of all acts of cruelty such as killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless of animals, but as per the value of the animal. Along it was Section 377 which made unnatural sex and sodomy a non-bailable offence. Unfortunately, when it was decriminalised to legalise queer rights, it left animals vulnerable.

"I don't know why the government hasn't reinstated it separately," says Gandhi, who belongs to the ruling party at the centre. "Many of us - including Poonam Mahajan and Hema Malini - raised the matter in Parliament."

Bestiality is considered a crime in almost every civilised society. Earlier this month, British zoologist Adam Britton, was sentenced to 249 years imprisonment by an Australia court for having raped, tortured, and killed dogs. Britton recorded himself torturing, sexually abusing, and killing dogs, often left with him by pet parents who couldn't afford to nurture them. This is often the dark side overlooked in the enthusiasm to have stray animals adopted.

Nitesh Khare, former animal officer, sees three to four cases of ASA (Animal Sexual Assault) every month. He is Founder and National President of animal welfare litigation body Society for Animal Safety (SAS). It has a presence in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi-NCR, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Maharashtra and Jharkhand top the list for density of ASA. They are the ones who found out about the assault on the ghorpad. "The police are also struggling and helpless," he tells us. "They don't know what to charge the culprit with. We recently had a case of a man in Taloja who chopped off a dog's privates. A 65-year-old man found guilty of ASA was released on bail of R15,000 on grounds of having medical conditions and age that would make imprisonment hard on him."

Vijay Rangare, now president of the Maharashtra chapter of PFA and an animal welfare officer, was sacked in 2019 after he took too many days off to pursue justice for Laila, a dog who was sexually assaulted by restaurant workers in Kharghar. With the support of Section 377, Rangare pushed for a swab of Laila's genital and DNA testing by the Bombay Veterinary College, and it matched with the DNA samples taken from the culprit's clothes by the police. A rare piece of evidence.

In usual course, evidence of ASA only emerges through eyewitnesses or if it is caught on camera or CCTVs. Otherwise, a dog or cat with prolapsed anus or vagina, a tell-tale sign of vigorous penetration - will merely receive medical care if s/he is lucky to be found by a sympathetic feeder or activist with means.

Since then, Rangare has dedicated his time and resources to pursuing litigation for ASA. "A video showed a man touching a dog's privates and masturbating," he says. "We traced it to Dombivli and filed a case. Children as young as three and four watched a senior man rape a stray dog in a village. His family pleaded with us to take him away because they were worried about the safety of their children."

The demographic of the rapists is disturbingly clear, says Gandhi - senior men over 65 years of age, and very young men.

What animal lovers want is legal provision to protect against rape. "Sexual assault on animals is no different from sexual assault on humans," says Khare. "In fact, it's worse, they can't fight back or advocate for themselves. Punishment should include imprisonment for 10 to 15 years. If we are correcting everything that is not our culture, bestiality isn't either."

Gandhi feels that the same laws that apply to rape of humans should apply to animals. "BNS has tampered with 377 for no reason," she tells us over the phone, "Sexual assault of animals is no less heinous than that of humans. It should have the same law as humans as the crime is the same. It's more like rape of children because they cannot cry out or speak. It should be a non-bailable crime, as it was under Section 377, because it puts others at risk." She advocates for imprisonment starting at seven years with provision for collecting evidence in the same manner as rape of humans - swab tests.

It could also call for protection of witness - a young woman who reported a man for raping a dog in Malad was reportedly harassed and threatened by anti-social elements connected to the rapist.

Which is why Rangare would like the FIR to be non-compoundable - it cannot be withdrawn. "The punishment should be lifetime imprisonment," he says, "Because [after animals] the rapist then progresses to children - it's the same profile of victim, someone defenceless who cannot verbalise what has happened." There is some truth in the matter - internationally, most paraphilics are found to have molested children too.

Police found child porn on zoologist Britton's personal computer. He was found guilty of possessing and transmitting child abuse material.

Rangare would also like the law to define ASA as penetration by human or inanimate object, any act (such as strangulation or licking) that gives a human sexual pleasure, oral sex and fondling. It should apply to all sexes and all animals, "including hens". He tells us that a protest is being planned during the monsoon session of Parliament to demand these.

The question arises: Why don't the animals fight back or bite. A team of students from Mumbai's Jai Hind College may have the answer. While researching for their short film on ASA, Two Biscuits, they spoke to behaviourists who told them about freeze or shut down - it's the state the nervous system goes into in time of shock. And a raped animal is never again 100 per cent okay.

And neither should India be.

35
No. of animal sexual assault cases her organisation, People for Animals, prosecuted in India last year