<p>The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre, Kerala and 12 other states on a PIL against use of explosives and other barbaric and cruel ways to ward off wild elephants and other animals.</p>.<p>A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices R Subhash Reddy and A S Bopanna sought a response from the Union government and States including Karnataka on the plea by Shubham Awasthi.</p>.<p>The petitioner led by advocate Vivek Narayan Sharma sought a declaration that the practices of filling fruits and food items and shaved sticks to ward off animals as illegal and unconstitutional, in order to provide a life of dignity to animals.</p>.<p>He also sought a direction for filling up of vacancies of Forest department in their respective States for better management of Animal-Human conflict.</p>.<p>He pointed out that the Constitution recognised the lives and welfare of animals by making it a fundamental duty of the citizens of India to respect and treat all living creatures with compassion.</p>.<p>Referring to May 27 incident where a pregnant elephant succumbed to injuries caused by the eating of a oineapple filled with crackers, he said such instances were antithetical to India’s obligations towards the fulfilment of fundamental rights of the animals.</p>.<p>Among others, he sought necessary amendments in the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Act, 1960 to enhance punishments for causing ill-treatment to animals and make it more stringent as per modern times.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre, Kerala and 12 other states on a PIL against use of explosives and other barbaric and cruel ways to ward off wild elephants and other animals.</p>.<p>A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices R Subhash Reddy and A S Bopanna sought a response from the Union government and States including Karnataka on the plea by Shubham Awasthi.</p>.<p>The petitioner led by advocate Vivek Narayan Sharma sought a declaration that the practices of filling fruits and food items and shaved sticks to ward off animals as illegal and unconstitutional, in order to provide a life of dignity to animals.</p>.<p>He also sought a direction for filling up of vacancies of Forest department in their respective States for better management of Animal-Human conflict.</p>.<p>He pointed out that the Constitution recognised the lives and welfare of animals by making it a fundamental duty of the citizens of India to respect and treat all living creatures with compassion.</p>.<p>Referring to May 27 incident where a pregnant elephant succumbed to injuries caused by the eating of a oineapple filled with crackers, he said such instances were antithetical to India’s obligations towards the fulfilment of fundamental rights of the animals.</p>.<p>Among others, he sought necessary amendments in the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Act, 1960 to enhance punishments for causing ill-treatment to animals and make it more stringent as per modern times.</p>
