dehradun over 75 lakh people have signed a petition addressed to pm modi urging him to intervene and amend provisions of the prevention of cruelty to animals pca act 1960 which provides for a penalty of only rs 50 in cases of cruelty to animals the petition has been initiated by the ngos people for animals pfa and humane society internationalindia hsipointing out that the animal cruelty cases that get reported in the country are just a blip on the radar and most cases are never reported gauri maulekhi trustee of pfa said that despite being a punishable criminal offence cruelty against animals continues unabated in the country given the absence of a deterrent penalty in lawalokparna sengupta managing director his india added that it is high time the pca act was amended to create an effective deterrent the act was enacted to replace a colonial legislation and sought to prevent infliction of unnecessary pain and suffering on animals however quantum of punishment that is the penalties has not been reviewed even once in the six decades of the acts existence the past year has seen some of the most heinous acts of animal cruelty in india each horrific case highlighted the inability of the current law to protect animals she saidanimal lovers say that it is ironic that even as india has one of the most stringent acts in the world to protect its wild animals wildlife protection act 1972 the nonwild animals like dogs cats poultry etc are not effectively protected as any torture to them is covered under the pca act whose penalty amount is hardly a deterrentwith lakhs of people signing the petition in just around a fortnight the campaign began on january 19 maulekhi says that the response has been overwhelming it is heartening to see that among the signatories are bollywood actors like tiger shroff shraddha kapoor and pooja bhatt to name a few that so many people relate to the need to give more teeth to laws to prevent cruelty to animals speaks about the urgent need for the pca act to be amended she added