Two medicos in the dock for flinging puppy from terrace

Cruelty to the core:A video grab showing a puppy being thrown off a terrace.— Photo: R. Ravindran

Animal activists who filed a complaint with the police based on a video where a man is seen throwing a puppy from the terrace of a building, said that the culprits had been identified and that they had been asked to surrender.

The video, which started doing the rounds on Facebook and Whatsapp on Monday, had evoked outrage from animal lovers and social media users across the country. The culprits were identified as two final year medical students, Gautham Sudarshan and Ashish Paul, from a private medical college in Thandalam. While Gautham is seen throwing the puppy, Ashish is said to have filmed the video,” said Shravan Krishnan, an animal welfare activist from the city. An FIR has been filed against both of them at the Kundrathur Police Station.

‘College cooperative’

The activists said while the police had been extremely helpful in tracking down the parents of the students who were absconding, the college authorities pitched in and announced that if they did not surrender, it would suspend them and debar them from writing examinations. We need stricter laws to prevent animal cruelty as the outdated Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 has only a Rs 50 fine. We have in addition, also registered a case against them under the IPC sections 428 and 429 (Mischief by Killing or maiming the animal) where they can be jailed for up to five years,” said Jennifer Jacob Murali Anand, Founder of Chennai Adoption Drive(CAD).

Detailing how they managed to track the culprits, Anthony Rubin, honorary Animal Welfare Officer, said that after the video went viral on social media sites on Monday evening, a few people had given them information.

Tip-off on social media

“Based on their information, we managed to go to the college and get their identity confirmed from a few students and discovered that the puppy had been thrown off the terrace of a hostel there nearly two weeks back. We were unable to confirm if the animal was dead or not since we could not find a body anywhere,” he said.

Expressing shock over the incident, Mr. Anthony said as medical students, he expected them to have more sensitivity and compassion.

“The act was such a barbaric one and it is disappointing that it was also captured on camera,” he said.

“The students have been given 24 hours to surrender and the police are expecting them to surrender by Wednesday morning,” Ms Jennifer added.