Chennai: Gautam Sudarshan, a medical student who threw a dog off the rooftop of a building, and his companion Ashish Pal, have been suspended by the medical college they attend.
According to a report, an inquiry will be conducted by the college into the incident. Earlier, the two were granted bail by a local court. The men were charged with offences punishable with fines of Rs 10 and Rs 50 instead of jail time.
This has dismayed animal rights activists, who have decided to appeal the verdict. "The Prevention of Cruelty Act is pretty outdated, it is a 1960 law and we want a change in that because they can just get away with a fine of Rs.50," said animal rights activist Shravan Krishnan.
The Chennai police on Wednesday arrested the man who has was caught on camera throwing a dog from a terrace, sparking massive outrage on social media. The cops also apprehended the man who had shot the shocking video and the two culprits will be produced in court.
The main culprit was identified as one Gautam Sudarshan, a medical student at Kundrathur in Kancheepuram district. The video of him throwing a dog from the terrace of a residential complex had gone viral on Facebook and a city dweller had lodged a complaint with the city police to trace the culprit, on Monday evening. The video was shot by his friend Ashish Pal.
Chennai: Veterinary doctor conducts medical check-up on the dog that was thrown off a terrace, says it is in shock.https://t.co/e72dqCrbDr
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 6, 2016
To the relief of animal activists, the dog was found alive and she is currently receiving medical attention at a hospital as she was unable to walk properly.
Veterinary doctors said the dog is out of danger and suffered two fractures. One on her hind leg and the other on her spine. Activists who rescued the dog have named her 'Bhadra'.
The video is believed to have originated from the message sharing platform, WhatsApp and was eventually uploaded on Facebook by animal activists. The video, which runs in slow motion, features the holding a dog by its neck and back on the parapet wall of his terrace.
After sporting a smile into the camera, the man drops the dog down and the camera follows the dog, which falls down crying out in pain and the video ends with the dog lying still on the ground.
Sally Kannan, Outreach Consultant at Humane Society International had posted the video, offering a reward of 100,000 Rs to anyone who could nab the culprit.
