(The ad is downloadable here.)

Sakshi Malik, a former Olympic wrestler and one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024 has teamed up with Mercy For Animals India Foundation, a leading animal protection organisation, to raise awareness of the various injustices that animals face. The campaign ad features a furrowed-brow Sakshi Malik urging people to “SPEAK UP against injustice”.

Tatsam Malhotra and Manish Sehrawat shot this ad.

“It is as wrong to tolerate injustice as to commit it, whether it is against humans or animals”, said Sakshi, India’s first woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal. “Animals are living beings who feel pain, fear, and joy just like we do. Every day, millions of animals silently endure cruelty and injustice but are unable to speak up for themselves.”

Sakshi supports Mercy For Animals India Foundation’s appeal for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill to be introduced and passed in the parliament and has written a letter to Rajiv Ranjan Singh, the minister of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, requesting that he amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Despite its enactment in 1960 to protect animals, the Act provides outdated penalties (max Rs. 50) and fails to classify most acts of animal cruelty (like beating or killing) as cognisable offences. This lack of deterrence and enforcement power weakens the Act.

“We are incredibly honoured to have Sakshi join us in our endeavour to be the voice for animals,” said Nikunj Sharma, CEO, Mercy For Animals. “Sakshi has been a role model for millions of people in the country, and we believe that her appeal will have an immense impact in combating animal abuse.”

Sakshi Malik joins John Abraham and Sonakshi Sinha as brand ambassadors for Mercy For Animals India Foundation.

Mercy For Animals is a leading international nonprofit working to end industrial animal agriculture by constructing a just and sustainable food system. Active in Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico and the United States, the organisation has conducted over 100 investigations of factory farms and slaughterhouses, influenced over 500 corporate policies, and helped pass historic legislation to ban cages for farmed animals. 2024 marks Mercy For Animals’ 25th year of groundbreaking campaigns and programs. Learn more at MercyForAnimals.in.