Man tries to sexually abuse cow; police say there is no facility to register the case in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita

Kasaragod: Dairy farmer Rajan’s cow was almost sexually assaulted by an unidentified person at Chandera in Kasaragod on Sunday afternoon. However, the police do not have the department to charge the suspect with attempt to cruelty to animals or register an FIR under the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 on July 1. “We are exploring options to charge him (the suspect) under another section,” said an official of the Chandera police.

According to Rajan’s complaint, he had tied his cow to the pasture on Sunday afternoon for her to graze. After some time, he noticed that the cow was missing and started searching for her. After crossing the railway tracks near Chandera railway station, he noticed a movement behind the bushes and rushed to the spot. He saw a man in his late 30s shirtless near his cow. On seeing him, the man fled the scene, Rajan’s complaint said.

The dairy farmer saw his cow lying on the ground with her legs and tail tied to the nose rope. He immediately called the government veterinarian who examined the cow and found no injuries. Rajan later filed a complaint with the Chandera police.

The official quoted above said the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita had no provision equivalent to Section 377 of the IPC. “This case involved attempting to have sexual intercourse with the animal. Even the IPC did not have any sections to be invoked in case of attempted animal abuse,” he said. “The BNS should have had provisions for both the crimes. This is a defect,” he said. However, he said if the cow’s private parts were injured or mutilated, there were provisions to register an FIR.

According to Section 377 of the IPC, “Anyone who voluntarily and against the nature of the act has sexual intercourse with a man, a woman or an animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

In Navtej Johar v. Union of India in 2018, the Supreme Court decriminalised consensual same-sex relations by amending Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, said Adv Prakash Ammannayya, a criminal lawyer and child sex crimes prosecutor. “But sexual assault on men and transgender people by using force or threats is still an offence and BNS should have had provisions for it. And in the case of animals, there can be no question of consent,” he said.

According to the Delhi-based Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAP), one in eight cases of violence against animals is sexual harassment or rape. “When crimes against animals already go unnoticed and unpunished, the lack of a law against sexual harassment of animals will have devastating consequences,” it said in an Instagram post.

Several senior lawyers in Kasaragod said they were unaware that the BNS did not deal with animal cruelty and rape of men and transgender people.