Police in southern India have reportedly arrested two medical students after a video that showed one of them flinging a stray dog from the balcony of a two-storey building went viral. The video sparked public outrage around the world
One of the students as shown in the video, was smiling as he lifts the dog by the scruff of the neck to the ledge and finally tosses her over. The other student is thought to have filmed the incident.
An animal rights activist later found the dog injured but alive.
According to police, the students said during questioning that they threw the dog and filmed it “just for fun”.
Police in Tamil Nadu state arrested the pair, who are final-year students at a medical college in the state capital Chennai, and a local court on Wednesday granted them bail.
“The court has granted bail to the students. As per the bail order, they paid 10,000 rupees (S$200) each,” local police inspector, Frank D. Ruben, told AFP.
Police began searching for the students on Tuesday following a complaint filed by an activist from the government’s Animal Welfare Board of India.
Activist Shravan Krishnan found the dog and posted a photo on Instagram late Tuesday of him holding the injured animal, who has now been checked by a team of veterinarians.
One said the puppy had fractured her right leg but seemed otherwise unscathed by her ordeal.
“It seems to be a puppy of around five months old and presently the conditions and vital (statistics) seem ok,” said R. Jayaprakash.
Earlier, the Indian branch of the Humane Society International offered a reward of 100,000 rupees to anyone who could provide information for the students’ arrest.
Others called for stronger animal cruelty laws in the country.
“Med student smiles as he throws a terrified dog off a roof. Animal cruelty #law in India is a joke. #dogs#justice,” Twitter user B. Jorgensen said.
In 2007, animal rights supporters created uproar when municipal workers in the southern Indian high-tech city of Bangalore culled thousands of street dogs after a child was mauled to death by a pack of neighborhood strays.
I cried after reading what these younfg people did.
Both of them shown be thrown down the same way so they can learn how not to treat animals.
Most Indian males are worse than terrorists.
Sick Indian students.
There’s a lot of crime going on in this country but the police aren’t doing enough to stop it. What people read online is a little compared to the mountainuous suffering here.
One good news from Indian police. If they arrest rapists and bring justice upon them, the country will have proud women to show for it.
The evil that men do lives with them.
That serves them right. They’ll have more to explain to the police.
I couldn’t resist commenting. Well written!
Heartless students. They’re the type that rape girls in India. Police should put them under serious interrogations. They must be connected to a few other crimes.