Stars, Cricketers Join Hands for Animal Rights

Celebrities, including John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Raveena Tandon, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane, have signed a new petition by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India calling upon the government to strengthen animal-protection laws.

PETA India is pointing to recent cases of abuse -- including an incident in which two students hurled a dog off a rooftop and were quickly released from jail on bail, as well as a 14 March incident in which an Uttarakhand Mounted Police horse named Shaktimaan was fatally injured. “India’s weak and outdated animal-protection laws are a national embarrassment as they do very little to prevent animals from being neglected, abused, or killed. PETA India and its high-profile supporters are calling on the government to strengthen its penalties for cruelty to animals significantly and right away - before anyone else gets hurt,” Poorva Joshipura, Chief Executive Officer, PETA India, said in a statement.

PETA India’s petition calls on the government to ensure that people who abuse animals serve jail time, pay significant fines, receive psychological counselling, and are banned from interacting with animals.