"Live and Let Live !

"Live and Let Live !

In a significant order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that animals in Haryana be accorded the status of “legal person or entity”. It declared all residents of Haryana ‘persons in loco parentis’ to promote welfare of animals. The legal definition of "In Loco Parentis is a person who, though not the natural parent, has acted as a parent to a child and may thus be liable to legal obligations .

The order grants animals in Haryana “corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person”. The order was passed by Justice Rajiv Sharma, who was transferred from Uttarakhand to the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh last year. Justice Rajiv Sharma was incidentally a member of double bench of Uttarakhand High Court that passed a similar order “to protect and promote greater welfare of animals” in Uttrakhand almost a year back.

Justice Sharma in his 104-page order stated that animals have a right to life and bodily integrity, honour and dignity, and could not be treated merely as property. “In order to protect and promote greater welfare of animals including avian and aquatic, animals are required to be conferred with the status of legal entity/legal person,” he stated. Justice Sharma added that animals might be mute but “we as a society have to speak on their behalf”.

“The animals should be healthy, comfortable, well nourished, safe, able to express innate behavior without pain, fear and distress. They are entitled to justice. The animals cannot be treated as objects or property,” the verdict states.

Justice Sharma gave 29 mandatory directions including fixed load to be carried by animals and banned their deployment for pulling vehicles in extreme weather conditions. He asked the Haryana government to ensure ensure that no person was permitted to keep in harness any animal to draw vehicles between 11 am and 4 pm in summers when temperature exceeded 37 degrees Celsius, and between 10 pm and 7 am when the temperature fell below 5 degrees Celsius in winter.
He also banned the use of spike sticks, harness, knobs and other sharp instruments . Animals carrying load are to be covered with reflectors for identification at night.

Justice Sharma signed the verdict with the concluding remark , "LIVE AND LET LIVE."