Animal Law Centre

About the Centre

Inaugurated in 2018, the Animal Law Centre (ALC) is India’s first, and currently the only, research centre on animal law. The Centre was established to facilitate large-scale impact for animals through evidence-backed research and humane education.

Since its inception, ALC has grown into a regional hub for Asia, working at the intersection of producing scholarship, capacity-building, and policy engagement. It collaborates closely with civil society and government stakeholders to identify critical gaps, generate robust and high-quality data, and drive meaningful legal and policy reform.

Our Philosophy

At the Animal Law Centre, we believe that human treatment of nonhuman animals is a social justice issue and a mirror to society. Our work centres neglected questions and invisibilized identities, particularly at the intersection of animal welfare and environmental governance.

The Centre’s long-term vision is to support researchers and universities in establishing research centres and collaborating across countries in the Global South, thereby strengthening and expanding the animal advocacy movement, with a particular emphasis on advancing legal protections for the biggest, most neglected groups of animals, including animals farmed in industries

Research and Collaboration

• Collaboration between six universities across four continents: Aix-Marseille University (France), Lewis & Clark Law School (USA), Kent Law School (UK), University of Timișoara (Romania), University of Johannesburg (South Africa) for the Comparative Animal Law Workshop/Symposium (2024-present)
• Collaborated with the Animal Welfare Board of India to conduct Training Workshops for Honorary Animal Welfare Representatives on animal welfare laws (2025)
• Collaborated with the Harvard Animal Law and Policy Program to write a report on Animal Markets and Zoonotic Disease in India (2024)
• Collaborated with the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law to host and help organize the Law Lecturers Workshop in South Asia (2024)
• Collaborated with Ethical Seafood Research to conduct field surveys with pangasius aquaculture producers around the Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary, a wetland protected under the RAMSAR convention. (2024)
• International Center for Animal Law and Policy (ICALP), Faculty of Law – Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (2018)

Outreach and Engagement

• Guest lectures for the Double Credit Course on “Animal Law: Perspectives from the Global South” by National Law University, Orissa, India. (2026)
• Delegate at UNEA-7 and UNEA-6, Nairobi, as part of the NGO Major Group Delegate (Africa Network for Animal Welfare) and the Children and Youth Major Group. (2025, 2026)
• Speaker at the International Aquaculture Law and Policy Symposium 2026 (Panel on “Strategies for Advocacy”), EAGx India 2025 (Lightning talk on “Legal Career Pathways to Help Millions of Animals”), AVA India 2025 (Panel on “Academic Field-building for Animal Law”); UK Animal Law Conference, Birmingham (2021 – Presenter on “True Cost of Eggs: Animal Welfare”, 2024 – Panel on “Aquaculture”, 2025 – Presenter on “Insects as Stakeholders”, 2026 – Presenter on “Restorative Justice to Address Cruelty Against Animals in India”); AI for Animals Conference, UC Berkeley 2025 (Lightning talk on “AI for Fishes”); Asia Farm Animal Day, Hanoi 2024 (Panel on “Aquatic Animals”).
• Global South Scholarship to present a paper titled “An Indian Perspective on Entry of Animals into Constitutions” at the World Congress of Constitutional Law held every four years, held at Johannesburg, South Africa, between 4–9th December 2022.
• Harvard South Asia Institute Symposium Panelist – Global Pandemics and Law (May 2021)
• Guest lectures on the topics “Animals & Ethics” and “International Law & Animal Welfare” at National Law University, Orissa, India (2020)
• Tel Aviv University, Environmental Justice and the Protection of Animals Rights Clinic (2019)
• Made representations to the Department of Fisheries (Uttarakhand and Karnataka), FSSAI (Report on Food Safety Risks in Fish Markets of Delhi), BIS (aquaculture and seaweed standards), and CPCB (aquaculture production systems) (2024).
• Panelist in the colloquium on “Cooperation, Contentment and Care to Enable Justice for All” organised by The Centre for Legal Philosophy and Justice Education, November 2–5, 2023, at NALSAR. Presented on “Whose constitutional right has been violated?”
• Presented a paper titled “Practical Lessons from India: Jallikattu and the Fallacy of Litigating Cultural Practice” in the 8th International Animal Futures Conference on the theme “Animal Advocacy Against the Grain? Traditions and Transformations in and around the Movement” organized by Loomus and EACALS in Estonia between June 15–17, 2023.
• NAAC Best Practice “Concern for other species”

Publications

• Journal of Comparative Law, Special Part I ‘Wings of Change: A Comparative Analysis of Animal Law’
• Current Conservation, ‘There is something fishy about the Indian aquaculture industry’ (2025)
• The Hindu, ‘The poultry industry needs urgent reforms’ (2024)
• Down to Earth, ‘Poor Regulation of Aquaculture Endangers Human Health’ (2024)
• Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Program, ‘Animal Markets and Zoonotic Diseases in India’ (2024)
• Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy (Vol 37:1, 36-41), ‘Book Review on Shyam Divan and Armin Rosencranz, Environmental Law and Policy in India: Cases and Materials (3rd ed, Oxford University Press 2023) (2024)
• Journal of Indian Law and Society, ‘Impact of FDI Policy on Animal Husbandry Sector in India’ (2022)
• The Citizen, “Why the Exotic Wildlife Trade is Rising Steeply in India” (2021)
• The Citizen, “Towards Personhood: Humancentric Laws Cannot Resolve Our Conflict with Other Animals” (2020)

News on Centre Activities

• A mention from the President of India on the official Twitter handle for our work on fish welfare in aquaculture.
• Interview Feature: Guidebook on Animal Law Careers by Animal Advocacy Careers
• Interview: The new MA/Advanced Diploma in Animal Protection Laws at NALSAR University of Law, India
• Interview feature in “We‘ve created a dystopia for animals’ (June 9, 2023).

Events

• Organized a Webinar with Prof Gautam Bhatia on ‘The Constitution, Animal Protection, and Environmental Law’ (130+ live attendees and registrations from 5 countries) (2025)
• Organized the Sensitization Workshop on Animal Laws for the Judicial Magistrates at the Gujarat State Judicial Academy (2023, 2024)
• Organized an online lecture by Justice Radhakrishnan on Animal Rights Law. (2024)
• Hosted the Inaugural rounds for Southern, Eastern, and South-Eastern Asia of the first edition of the World Moot on International Law and Animal Rights (WMILAR). (2024)
• Organized online workshops on AI for Animal Advocacy, Wildlife Law, and Seed Grants for Policy Advocacy and Aquatic Animal Protection. (2024)
• Organized a DE&I workshop and a guest lecture on ― Equal Love: Where We Come From, Where We Head To by Harish Iyer on October 11-12, 2023.
• Organized the First Sensitization Workshop on the Environmental Regulation of Animal Agriculture Industries in collaboration with the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, with a keynote address by Mr Raj Panjwani, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India. (2022)
• Organized a Sensitization Workshop on Animal Laws for 800 judges from the Bihar Judicial Academy (2022).
• Hosted contact classes for the 2nd Ahimsa Fellowship cohort enrolled in a 9-month leadership program that aims at creating a network of effective animal welfare leaders adept at working closely with state governments and district administrations to enforce animal protection laws in India. (2022)
• ALC Webinar Week with more than 200 attendees. (2022)
• Podcast Interview with Smt. Maneka Gandhi, India’s seniormost parliamentarian, by Prof. Faizan Mustafa on issues relating to animal cruelty in India (11k views) (2021).
• 10-part Animal Welfare Webinar Series in collaboration with the Society for Non-Human Persons (SNHP), NLSIU (2020).
• Three Sensitization Workshops with Judicial Academies: Hubli-Dharwad (Public Prosecutors and Judicial Officers), Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (Judicial Officers), Assam. (2019)
• National Teachers Training Program on Animal Protection Laws in collaboration with Michigan State University College of Law (March 16-18, 2019)
• Prof. Kristen A. Stilt delivered a lecture on ‘Animal Welfare and Religion’ on July 26, 2019. Prof. Stilt was the former Deputy Dean and Faculty Director of the Animal Law and Policy Program at Harvard Law School. Prof. Kristen is also the Director of Harvard Law School’s Islamic Legal Studies.
• Expert Panel Meeting on Animal Welfare Laws with Hon’ble Ms. Justice Anjana Mishra, Judge, Patna High Court; Mr. Raj Panjwani, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Ms. Sowmya Rao- Member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Animal Activist; Ms. Gauri Maulekhi, Co-opted member of Animal Welfare Board of India and a Trustee, People for Animals; and Mr. N.G. Jayasimha, former Managing Director, Humane Society International/India. (2018)
• Mr Krishnan Venugopal, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, gave a lecture on ‘Philosophical Foundation of Animal Rights in Indian Law’ on September 29, 2018, at NALSAR.