Nagpur: Police officers from all police stations of the Nagpur City Police came together at the Police Bhavan, Civil Lines, on Tuesday, 20 May, to attend a workshop conducted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India.
The workshop was conducted by PETA India Legal Advisor and Director of Cruelty Response Meet Ashar under the benevolent leadership of the Commissioner of Police, Dr Ravinder Kumar Singal, IPS, personally attended and supported the training. Assistant Commissioner of Police, Shalini Sharma, was also in attendance. The initiative was supported by Mrs Karishma Galani, a Nagpur-based animal rights activist and head of the People For Animals (PFA) Nagpur unit.
Nearly 100 police officers, including head constables, sub-inspectors of police, assistant police inspectors, and police inspectors from all police stations, participated in a four-hour long workshop. The workshop covered the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960; the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (as amended in 2022); Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and other animal-relevant central and state laws.
A similar workshop was held for Nagpur's animal rights activists on 19 May at the Chitnavis Centre. The activists were trained on the laws and legal procedures to enable a smooth working relationship with the city's law enforcement authorities.
"The Nagpur City Police aims to crack down on cruelty to animals, and PETA India is pleased to support them in this effort," says Meet Ashar, PETA India’s Legal Advisor and Director of Cruelty Response. "On behalf of animals and society at large, we are thankful to the Nagpur City Police, particularly the Commissioner of Police, Nagpur, Dr Ravinder Kumar Singal, IPS, for taking cruelty to animals seriously."
This initiative is part of PETA India’s ongoing efforts to sensitize law enforcement personnel and empower animal rights activists across India to ensure that crimes against animals are addressed with the seriousness they deserve. Similar sensitization workshops have previously been conducted for Border Security Force officials in Gwalior (October 2024), the Chhattisgarh State Police (November 2024), the Goa State Police and Goa Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services officials (April 2025) along with North and South Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) inspectors and field officers, and the Pune City Police (April 2025).
In 2021, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations released a report revealing that in the decade prior, nearly 500,000 animals were victims of crimes.
PETA India notes that many violent criminals have a documented history of cruelty to animals. A study published in _Forensic Research and Criminology International Journal_ warns, “Those who engage in cruelty to animals were [three] times more likely to commit other crimes, including murder, rape, robbery, assault, harassment, threats, and drug/substance abuse. The major motivations for engaging in cruelty to animals include anger, fun, control, fear, dislike, revenge, imitation, and sexual pleasure.”
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – has long campaigned to strengthen the PCA Act, 1960, which contains outdated, inadequate penalties, such as a maximum fine of only Rs 50 for convicted first-time offenders (although the BNS, 2023 prescribes stronger punishments). In a proposal sent to the central government regarding an amendment to the PCA Act, PETA India has recommended significantly increasing penalties for cruelty to animals.
