Book those sexually abusing animals: Activists

Despite animal activists and organisations receiving complaints of people having sex with animals, city activists claim that criminal cases tend to remain unregistered as the witnesses often turn hostile. Despite four cases having been registered in the state and taken to the court, they fizzled out when the complainants failed to continue the fight. 

Dawn Williams, the general manager Blue Cross of India, said that the organisation receives around four to five calls each year regarding these incidents but the cases do not get reported owing to how disturbing the issue is. “I had received a call from a woman who had seen a man penetrating a dog. She sounded traumatised and demanded that I do something immediately. We hurried to the spot, but then she denied having made the complaint. People do not  want be involved with such cases,” said Williams. 

In another instance, a video was doing the rounds on WhatsApp, of a man trying to indulge in unnatural sex with a buffalo in a shed in Chennai. “Not only was the action disturbing, the fact that someone took a video of the same and uploaded it, is sickening. The culprit was soon arrested, but the case was abandoned,”  said Williams. 

Even though four cases have been registered for similar acts that took place in Thoraipakkam, Neelankarai, Tambaram and Pallikaranai, they were not investigated properly, say activists. “The law enforcement authorities must be sensitised on the seriousness of such cases. Though they are aware of these laws, they prefer to avoid registering cases related to them,” said Vanessa J, an animal rights activist. 

While such an Act exists, not many are aware of the same. “People tend to take advantage of the animals’ inability to respond in such situations. There have been many instances wherein the animals have died due to such acts,” said the activist. Stating that they had remanded the violator who had sexually assaulted a calf in Neelankarai s2012, a police officer who was handling the case then, said, “He was remanded under section 377 and arrested, but sent out on court bail.”  However, following a few hearings, the case died down and no action was taken, Dawn told DT Next.