Goa law to bite owners of ferocious dog breeds with jail, Rs 50,000 fine

Time of India

09-07-2025

Panaji:
With a rise in dog attacks on people, often resulting in serious injuries, state govt will introduce the Goa Animal Breeding and Domestication (Regulation and Compensation) Bill, 2025, to prohibit the domestication and breeding of ferocious animals and ban the import of such breeds.
Any person who contravenes this law will face imprisonment of up to three months, a fine of Rs 50,000, and community service. The bill will be introduced in the upcoming monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly.
The bill empowers govt to declare any breed or class of animals to be ferocious.
Before issuing a notification under the bill's Subsection 1, govt shall issue a public notice inviting objections from the general public to the proposed notification.
After the expiry of 15 days and after considering the objections and suggestions under Subsection 3 of the bill, govt may issue a notification.
As for the prohibition on the domestication and breeding of ferocious animals, the bill says, 'No person after the issuance of notification under Section 3, shall domesticate, breed or cause to breed any animal of the breed or class specified in the said notification issued under Subsection (1) of Section 3.'
The bill says, 'No person after the issuance of the notification under Section 3 shall bring or cause to bring into the state of Goa, an animal of the breed or class as specified in such notification.'
The owner of an animal declared to be ferocious under Section 3 shall be solely responsible for the actions of such an animal, and shall also be liable if the animal injures any other human or animal.
'Whoever domesticates, breeds or causes to breed any breed or class of animals in contravention of any of the provisions of this act or the rules made thereunder, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a period which may extend to three months but shall not be less than 15 days, a fine of Rs 50,000, and community service,' the bill says.
The owner of such a ferocious animal, which has been notified under Section 3, shall within 30 days from the publication of the notification, inform in writing to the authorities about the existence of such an animal, with such details and in such form as prescribed by the rules.
The owner of such a ferocious animal shall, within 60 days from the issuance of notification under Section 3, sterilise or cause to sterilise such a breed or class of animal.
Upon an application from the owner, a certificate will be issued confirming that the ferocious animal has been duly sterilised.
'Whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this act for which no separate penalty is specified in this act, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a period up to one month, a fine of Rs 50,000, and community service,' the bill says. 'Provided that the court may, in its discretion, having regard to the nature of the offence, the background of the accused, and the circumstances of each case, order the accused to render community service in lieu of imprisonment.
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With regards to compensation, notwithstanding anything contained in this act or any other law for the time being in force, any person who is injured, and in the case of death, the legal representative of such a deceased person, may file a claim for compensation against the owner of any animal which caused such injury or death.
'The claim shall be filed within six months from the date of the incident before the competent authority having jurisdiction over the region where the incident causing injury or death took place,' the bill says.
The competent authority shall, after conducting a summary inquiry as provided under Order XXXVII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), decide such a claim within three months.
Any person aggrieved by the decision of the competent authority may file an appeal with the administrative tribunal of Goa within 60 days from the date of the decision of the competent authority.
Provided that the administrative tribunal may, for sufficient cause, condone the delay in filing the appeal for a maximum period of one year.
The order passed by the administrative tribunal shall be final and shall not be called into question in any original suit, application, or execution proceeding, and no injunction shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this section.