Last year, a shocking case of animal cruelty came to light from Chennai where two medical students threw a terrified puppy (now named Bhadra by her owners) from the terrace. In another case that has disturbing similarity to Bhadra’s, an act by a college student in Vellore has resulted in a little puppy’s death.
21-year-old Vishesh Iyengar, a mechanical engineering student from a reputed college in Vellore, allegedly committed the cruel act on October 24. According to a message received by animal welfare worker Shravan Krishnan, the month-old puppy in question was apparently only one of the puppies who had suffered a similar fate.
Shravan was informed about the same by some other students of the same college who were taking care of the puppy. In a Facebook post, Shravan reproduced the message he received from the caretakers.
Vishesh
“We took in a one-month-old puppy who was attacked by other big street dogs, badly bruised. We got him vaccinated, fed him daily and were so thankful for his presence in our lives. He was a small bundle of love and in no time everyone in the house got attached to him,” the message read.
“Sadly, one unfortunate day he wandered out of the house and reached the house of Vishesh Igneyar. This person, Vishesh, already had a history of torturing the street puppies by placing them at high heights and waiting for them to fall down. This animal, Vishesh, took the puppy to the terrace and threw him off and the puppy died on the spot,” the message continued.
The caretakers also alleged that Vishesh had killed at least one more puppy in a similar manner. A screenshot provided by some of Vishesh’s friend shows a message from him saying, “1 down 1 more to go. Doggytales (sic)”. He says in another message, “black down down”.
The students taking care of the puppy also said that this message showed that Vishesh had already killed a black puppy and “already had plans of getting his hands on the other puppy (our pet)”.
After these students got in touch with Shravan, he filed an FIR at the Katpadi police station on Wednesday.
Sharavan told TNM that Vishesh allegedly committed these crimes at his residence, from the terrace. An accompanying video in his Facebook post shows some people inspecting the fallen puppy. Seeing that it’s dead, they bury in a hole in the ground.
“These crimes are becoming very common. Almost every day we get calls about such incidents of animal cruelty at the hands of students,” Shravan says, “We have been trying to convince colleges, no matter what course they teach, to include animal welfare in their curriculum to teach these students compassion.”
An FIR has been filed against him under IPC Section 429 (Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc. of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees). Vishesh has also been booked under section 11 (1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act which defines cruelty to animals.
While the FIR has been registered, the punishment for cruelty to animals remains abysmally little. “We are able to see these cases of cruelty now because people are speaking up more and using social media to talk about these issues. But the law has to keep pace with the recent times,” Shravan asserts.