Three weeks later, man held for throwing puppy on road

CHENNAI: Three weeks after a provision store owner in Selaivoyal near Manali mercilessly hurled a

puppy

in front of his store, he was arrested on Tuesday under sections 428 of the

Indian Penal Code

and under section 11(1)(a) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1970.


The complaint was filed by a student of Tamil Nadu Law College, Trichy, who along with five more classmates was interning at Blue Cross of India. The ghastly incident which occurred on Sri Durgai Avenue 6th Street on December 1 was captured on a CCTV camera footage based on which the complaint was filed.

The footage showed the puppy following another

dog

along the road where the perpetrator, Balamurugan, was seen standing near his bike. He cajoled the puppy into coming near him after which he picked it up and threw him with force on to the road. Hearing the puppy cry, several dogs came running and were shooed away by Balamurugan as the puppy lay writhing in pain.

“We were informed of the incident on December 13 and since then we have been running pillar to post to get an FIR filed,” said Kasthuri Rajamani, who filed the FIR.

She added that the complaint was filed with the M6 Manali police station on December 14, and the community service register (CSR) copy was given on December 16. “When we went on the 14th we were made to wait for several hours. The next three days we spent the entire day at the police station trying to get an FIR filed but the police officials were adamant that the case should be filed under section 75 of the IPC and not under PCA.

“When things were not working, we made a visit to the state human rights commission but received a lukewarm response there as well. Finally, we decided to file a complaint with the commissioner of police, soon after which we were called by staff at the M6 Manali police station to come and get an FIR filed,” said Aparna Padmakavi, another law student.

The FIR was finally filed on December 24 after which Balamurugan was arrested. “If it is so difficult for law students to get an FIR filed, imagine how difficult it would be for common

man

,” said Kasthuri, relieved that FIR was finally filed after ten days. Officers at the M6 Manali station were not available for a comment. The severely injured puppy is now recuperating.