Birds are covered under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 which bars it is illegal to catch, keep, kill, buy or sell birds or even damage their nests. The punishment for violating Bird Law is a fine and up to five years in jail. This law applies all over the country except for two exceptions: Lovebirds and Blue rock pigeons. Likewise, this act covers all indigenous birds. Capturing the animals who only know how to live freely is a crime.
Additionally, people who keep parrots as pets in their homes are illegal. Furthermore, according to the Delhi state wildlife officer Bipin Bihari, the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 prohibits keeping birds like parrots, mainas, muniyas, and peacocks as pets. Schedule VI of the act lists all these birds and keeping them in cages can lead to a person to jail for up to six years and a fine of up to rupees 5,000. But the Act does not prohibit pet exotic animals in India, Exotic Animals are basically those birds that are not the breed of India.
People in India aren’t aware of the fact that it is illegal to pet Indian birds and even to show caged birds in movies, ads, etc. In many surveys conducted by the Hindustan Times where the pet owner Kenny Petter said he is actually surprised to even heard about this law, Parakeet keeper Anjana Raghunathan says Mithu Mia, who lives at home, is a part of the family. She was unaware that keeping birds at home was illegal, she said why don’t lawmakers go behind the people who actually sell the birds.
A cognizable offense under the Indian Penal Code section 428/429 is the removal of the feathers of birds, which is tantamount to maiming them. Caging birds cannot be seen in ads, movies, or television shows. As well as coloring birds, which bird sellers often do to make them look more attractive, is illegal because the chemicals can be toxic.
In accordance with CITES, India’s international protocol on international trade in endangered species, all migratory species are fully protected and foreign birds are restricted from being traded.
The wildlife officer of Delhi states that ‘Birds are essentially free creatures. And when they are captured, they forget their wildlife instincts’, he further suggests that rather than caging them people can do services to them by keeping food trays or water bowls outside their houses.
People who keep birds as their pets should be first warned or awarded of the bird laws present and the legal implications and actions that can be taken against them. And the people who are trading the birds will be dealt with more seriously.