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THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ACT, 1890

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
1890: Act XI
(XI of 1890)

CONTENTS

1. Title, extent and commencement, and supersession of other enactments

2. Definitions

3. Penalty for cruelty to animals and for sale of animals killed with unnecessary
cruelty

3A. Penalty for overloading animals

4. Penalty for practising phooka

5. Penalty for killing animals with unnecessary cruelty anywhere

5A. Penalty for being in possession of the skin of a goat killed with unnecessary
cruelty

5B. Presumptions as to possession of the skin of a goat

6. Penalty for employing anywhere animals unfit for

labour 6A. Interpretation

6B. Treatment and care of animals

6C. Penalty for baiting or inciting animals to fight

7. Penalty for permitting diseased animals to go at large or to die in public places

7A. Special power of search and seizure in respect of certain offences

8. Search•warrants

9. Limitation for prosecutions

10. Destruction of suffering animals

11. Saving with respect to religious rites and usages

12. Provision supplementary to section 1 with respect to extent of Act

13. Offence under section 4 to be cognizable

14. General power of seizure for examination

15. Power to make rules
16. Persons authorised under section 14 to be public servants
17. Indemnity
 TEXT
1

THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ACT, 1890

(XI of 1890)
[22nd March, 1890]
An
Act
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
WHEREAS it is expedient to make further provision for the prevention of cruelty to
animals;
It is hereby enacted as follows:–

1. Title, extent and commencement, and supersession of other enactments.– (1)

This Act may be called the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1890.
2 3
(2) This section extends to [the whole of Pakistan]: and the [Provincial
Government] may, by notification in the official Gazette, extend, on and from a date to be
specified in the notification, the whole or any part of the rest of this Act to any such local area
as it thinks fit.
(3)4 When any part of this Act has been extended under sub•section (2) to a local
area, the [Provincial Government] may, by notification in the official Gazette, direct that the
whole or any part of any other enactment in force in the local area for the prevention of
cruelty to animals shall, except as regards anything done or any offence committed or any
fine or penalty incurred or any proceedings commenced, cease to have effect in 5
the local
area, and such whole or part shall cease to have effect accordingly until the [Provincial
Government], by a like notification, otherwise directs.
6
(4) The [Provincial Government] may cancel or vary a notification under
sub•section (2) or sub•section (3).

2. Definitions.– In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or

context,–
7
(1) “animal” means any domestic or captured animal: [*]

1
This Act was published in the Gazette of India, dated: 22 March 1890, pp. 71-72. For Statement of Objects and Reasons, see
Gazette of India, 1890, Part V, p. 4; for Report of the Select Committee, see ibid., p. 95, and for proceedings in Council, see
ibid., Part VI, pp. 4, 10 and 62.
2
Substituted for the words “all the Provinces and the Capital of the Federation” by the Central Laws (Statute Reform)
Ordinance, 1960 (XXI of 1960); assented to by the President on 7 June 1960; and, was published in the Gazette of Pakistan
(Extraordinary), dated: 9 June 1960, pp. 725-845, s. 3 read with the Second Schedule: it came into force on 14 October 1955.
They were earlier substituted for the words “the whole of British India” by the Adaptation of Central Acts and Ordinances Order,
1949 (G.G.O. No. 4 of 1949), published in the Gazette of Pakistan (Extraordinary), dated: 28 March 1949, pp. 223-283, Article 3
read with Article 4.
3
Substituted for the words “Local Government” by the Government of India (Adaptation of Indian Laws) Order, 1937, published
in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary), dated: 1 April 1937, pp. 75-344, Article 3 read with the First Schedule.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
The word “and” was omitted by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Act, 1938 (XXV of 1938), published in the
Gazette of India, dated: 10 December 1938, pp. 157-161, s. 2.
 (2) “street” includes any way, road, lane, square, court, alley, passage or open
space, whether a thoroughfare or not, to which the public have access.
1
[(3) phooka or doom dev includes any process of introducing air or any substance
into the female organ of a milch animal with the object of drawing off from the animal any
secretion of milk.]
2
[3. Penalty for cruelty to animals and for sale of animals killed with unnecessary
cruelty.– If any person–
(a) overdrives, beats, or otherwise treats any animal so as to subject it to
unnecessary pain or suffering, or
(b) binds, keeps, carries or consigns for carriage any animal in such manner or
position as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering, or
(c) offers for sale or without reasonable cause has in his possession any live
animal which is suffering pain by reason of mutilation, starvation, thirst,
over•crowding or other ill•treatment, or
(d) offers for sale any dead animal or part of a dead animal which he has reason
to believe has been killed in an unnecessarily cruel manner, or
(e) without reasonable cause abandons any animal in circumstances which
render it likely that it will suffer pain by reason of starvation or thirst,
he shall be punished, in the case of a first offence, with fine which may extend to fifty
rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month and, in the case of
a second or subsequent offence committed within three years of the previous offence, with
fine which may extend to one hundred rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to three months, or with both.]
3
[3A. Penalty for overloading animals.– (1) If any person overloads any animal, he shall
be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees, or with imprisonment for a term
which may extend to one month.
(2) If the owner of any animal, or any person who, either as a trader, carrier or
contractor or by virtue of his employment by a trader, carrier or contractor, is in possession
of, or in control of the loading of, any animal, permits the overloading of such animal, he
shall be punished with fine which may extend to one hundred rupees.]

1
Added ibid.
2
Substituted ibid., s. 3.
3
Inserted ibid., s. 4.
4
Substituted by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Act, 1938 (XXV of 1938), published in the Gazette of India,
dated: 10 December 1938, pp. 157-161, s. 5.
 1
5. Penalty for killing animals with unnecessary cruelty anywhere.– If any person
kills any animal in an unnecessarily cruel manner, he shall be punished with fine which may
extend to two hundred rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six
months, or with both.
2
6. Penalty for employing anywhere animals unfit for labour.– [* * *] If any person
employs in any work or labour any animal which by reason of any disease, infirmity, wound,
sore or other cause is unfit to be so employed, or permits any such unfit animal in his
possession or under his control to be so employed, he shall be punished with fine which may
extend to one hundred rupees.
4
[6A. Interpretation.– For the purposes of sections 3A and 6, an owner or other person in
possession or control of an animal shall be deemed to have permitted an offence if he has
failed to exercise reasonable care and supervision with a view to the prevention of such
offence, and, for the purposes of section 4, if he fails to prove that he has exercised such
care and supervision.

6B. Treatment and care of animals.– (1) The Provincial Government may, by general or
special order, appoint infirmaries for the treatment and care of animals in respect of which
offences against this Act have been committed, and may authorise the detention therein of
any animal pending its production before a Magistrate.
(2) The Magistrate before whom a prosecution for an offence against this Act has
been instituted may direct that the animal concerned shall be treated and cared for in an
infirmary, until it is fit to perform its usual work or is otherwise fit for discharge, or that it shall
be sent to a pinjrapole, or, if the Veterinary Officer in charge of the area in which the animal
is found or such other Veterinary Officer, as may be authorised in this behalf by rules made
under section 15 certifies that it is incurable or cannot be removed without cruelty, that it
shall be destroyed.
(3) An animal sent for care and treatment to an infirmary shall not, unless the
Magistrate directs that it shall be sent to a pinjrapole or that it shall be destroyed, be
released from such place except upon a certificate of its fitness for discharge issued by the
Veterinary Officer in charge of the area in which the infirmary is situated or such other
Veterinary Officer as may be authorised in this behalf by rules made under section 15.
(4) The cost of transporting an animal to an infirmary or pinjrapole, and of its
maintenance and treatment in an infirmary, shall be payable by the owner1 of the animal in
accordance with a scale of rates to be prescribed by the District Magistrate [* * * * * * * * * * *
* *]:
Provided that when the Magistrate so orders, on account of the poverty of the owner of
the animal, no charge shall be payable for the treatment of the animal.
(5) If the owner refuses or neglects to pay such cost or to remove the animal within
such time as a Magistrate may prescribe, the Magistrate may direct that the animal be sold
and that the proceeds of the sale be applied to the payment of such cost.
(6) The surplus, if any, of the proceeds of such sale shall, on application made by the
owner within two months from the date of the sale, be paid to him.

1
Sections 5A and 5B were inserted by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Act, 1917 (XIV of 1917), published in
the Punjab Gazette, dated: 6 April 1917, p. 84, s. 2.
2
The expression “(1)” was omitted by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Act, 1938 (XXV of 1938), published in
the Gazette of India, dated: 10 December 1938, pp. 157-161, s.
6C. Penalty for baiting or inciting animals to fight.– If any person–
(a) incites any animal to fight, or
(b) baits any animal, or
(c) aids or abets any such incitement or baiting,
he shall be punished with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.
Exception.– It shall not be an offence under this section to incite animals to fight if such
fighting is not likely to cause injury or suffering to such animals and all reasonable
precautions are taken to prevent injury or suffering from being so caused.]

7. Penalty for permitting diseased animals to go at large or to 2 die in public

places.– If any person wilfully permits any animal of which he is the owner [or is in charge]
to go at large in any street while the animal is affected with contagious or infectious disease,
or without
3 reasonable excuse permits any diseased or disabled animal of which he is the
owner [or is in charge] 4to die in any street, he shall be punished with fine which may extend
to one hundred rupees [where he is the owner of the animal, or to fifty rupees where he is in
charge of but not the owner of the animal].

1
The expression “or, in the Presidencytowns, by the Commissioner of Police” was omitted by the Adaptation of Central Acts
and Ordinances Order, 1949 (G.G.O. No. 4 of 1949), published in the Gazette of Pakistan (Extraordinary), dated: 28 March
1949, pp. 223-283, Article 3 read with the Schedule.
2
Inserted by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Act, 1938 (XXV of 1938), published in the Gazette of India,
dated: 10 December 1938,