Chennai man throws dog off roof: Animal rights in India is a joke
Chennai July 6 The video of a man from Chennai throwing a dog from a rooftop, which came up on social media on Monday, just shows the pride which some people take in inflicting cruelty on animals. What makes matters worse is the pathetic condition of the laws made to protect animal rights in India.
According to News18, the video — which was shot in slow motion — shows the dog whining in pain before the man grabs the dog by his neck and throws it off the rooftop. Right before he throws the dog, the man decides that it is completely appropriate to smile for the camera. Because of course, what is more joyful than throwing an innocent dog who is shaking and whining from a rooftop?
We are not linking the video because of its disturbing nature. But the fact that a video was taken only shows that the person shooting the video decided that taking a video was more important than saving the poor, helpless animal.
According to reports, the person throwing the dog has been identified as Gowtham Sudarshan, a final year MBBS student of Madha Medical College in Tamil Nadu. The shocking act was captured on camera by his friend, Ashish Pal, who has also been named for abetting the crime in the complaint, the police said.
Kundrathur Police confirmed that an FIR was registered against Gowtham Sudarshan and Ashish Pal under provisions of IPC and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, adding they are on the look out for the accused.
Such “artistically cruel” acts, as Dostoyevsky described so aptly, show that there are people in our country who enjoy hurting defenceless animals and take pride in such acts. According to the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), “Sadly, animal sacrifice has now become a means of showcasing the status of the person making the sacrifice. Animals like camels and horses are commonly slaughtered in this status parade.”
And this video, which went viral, is not even the first instance of people treating animals like lifeless objects.
In March this year, a woman in Bengaluru killed eight puppies by flinging them onto a boulder to teach the mother (of the pups) ‘a lesson’. And the ‘lesson’ was given because the mother of the puppies had simply given birth in a drain next to her house.
The neighbours of the culprit also said that she felt no repentance, given that after killing the puppies, she casually said, “accha nahi laga, fek diya.”
Just a day before that, a man had been caught on camera brutally stabbing three stray dogs and killing a puppy outside Green Park metro station in south Delhi. In July 2015, a man had tortured a dog by whirling it around after holding its legs and then throwing it at a parked car in Delhi.
Cruelty against animals (from chasing a stray dog to kicking a pigeon) will remain a reality unless the attitude of our society changes. Laws need to be resurrected and serious punishments need to be handed out, otherwise the sense of shameless pride associated with it will not go away.
