Helsinki Animal Law Seminar | March 26

Ashima Sharma | Situating Animal Rights in Law through Legal Personhood Lite: Reconceptualizing Legal Personality for Animals

The interactions between humans and domesticated as well as wild animals have not only long preceded recorded history but also law. However, what could have been a mutual relationship of reciprocity has turned into an abusive association due to the continuing jurisprudential categorization of animals as ‘legal property’. The same stands true in the Indian context. The animal welfare school has been in practice since the very codification of animal laws in this country but has failed to bear fruitful results in terms of adequately protecting animals. At the same time,

although there has been some activism in favour of personhood for animals in India, the possibility of achieving the same remains bleak for now. This situation thus demands a new framework in terms of policy and public discourse, which can catalyze broader systematic reforms for animals. In light of this, as a starting point, I suggest a liminal approach to animal welfare and animal personhood for dairy farmed milch animals in India. The present research is aimed towards not only proposing an “in-between” legal status for dairy animals in India but to also identify how such a status can, without bringing overhauling changes in the legal and social structures of the country, endow such animals with an improved legal and social position, and more protected interests.