Ahead of Muslim’s Eid al-Adha festival, during which animals such as goats and sheep are sacrificed, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scrap a section of a law that allows killing of an animal as a religious ritual.

Section 28 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA), 1960, should be done away with as it says that “nothing contained in this Act shall render it an offence to kill any animal in a manner required by the religion of any community”, the animal rights body said. “We hope you will agree that Section 28 is an aberration in the land of 'ahimsa', 'karuna', and, increasingly, modern technology and where Article 51A(g) of the Constitution of India requires compassion for all living creatures," PETA India chief executive officer Manilal Valliyate said in a letter to the prime minister.

The letter said that this provision (section 28) goes against the very purpose of the PCA Act, as it causes “unnecessary pain and suffering to animals and is now, in a modern society, outdated”. Just as human sacrifice is treated as murder, similarly, the archaic practice of animal sacrifice, like wringing their neck, beheading them, biting them to death, or slitting their throats while they are fully aware of what is happening to them, should be treated as punishable cruelty, it said.

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