Chennai: Two medical students who were accused of throwing
a dog off the roof of a house and filming the heinous act, were arrested on
Wednesday, but were soon out on bail.
Animal rights activist Antony Rubin, whose FIR with
the police had led to the duo’s arrest, said that efforts were on to bring
a stay on the bail order. Sources also say the two students have been suspended
from college.
The video itself had gone viral after surfacing
on Monday, leading to Antony and his friends, and fellow animal rights
activists Shravan Krishnan and Jennifer Jacob crowdsourcing the effort to zero
in on the people in the video. The efforts bore fruit as they ended up
identifying the person throwing the dog off the roof as Gautam Sudharshan,
and the person who filmed the act as Ashish Paul.
A cash reward of 100,000 rupees (£1,000) was offered
by the Humane Society International, an animal protection group, to “anyone who
is willing to volunteer valid information leading to the arrest and conviction
of the person responsible for this evil”.
The animal, which in
the video lands with a thud and is heard to cry out with pain, was thought to
have perished. But in a miracle, the dog was found alive, injured and unable to
walk but still wagging her tail by animal rights activist Shravan Krishnan. The
dog was cowering under a staircase of the building when Krishnan found her.
“Those criminals have come out on BAIL. This is how ‘strong’ the animal welfare
laws are. With video evidence and so much of public outrage we couldn't remand
them even for one day. We are extremely disappointed and it’s a ‘Black Day’ for
Animal Welfare in India,” Krishnan posted on his Facebook page.
However, the laws
they have been charged under, carry a maximum jail term of five years for “maiming
or injuring” an animal.
The two had left the
city and returned to their hometown, 600km (372 miles) from Chennai, as outrage
intensified, but Krishnan said that their parents had agreed to hand them over
to the police. He said they had decided to name the dog “Bhadra” which
translates from the Hindi as “blessed”.
Antony has, on
Facebook, appealed to all for legal assistance in the case, and also started
the hashtag #JusticeForBhadra.
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