Three persons have been arrested for brutally torturing a pet dog by hanging it on a fish hook in a boat and beating it to death in Vizhinjam of Thiruvananthapuram. Sunil, Sylvester and a minor from Adimalathura of Thiruvananthapuram were arrested on July 1 by the Vizhinjam police. Christuraj,, the owner of the Labrador dog, had posted the visuals of the accused assaulting the dog on social media. The video was taken by a witness who sent it to Christuraj,. The visuals show the black Labrador dog tied to a fishing hook in a boat. The accused can be seen hitting the animal with a stick. The dog was later thrown into the sea by them.
As per reports, the dog was beaten up and killed for sleeping under the boat of the accused. The incident happened on June 28. Christuraj, has also alleged that before the accused were arrested, they had threatened him and even assaulted his family members since the video went viral. Speaking to the media, he alleged that the accused had also threatened to kill him in the same way that they had killed his dog.
According to the police, however, Sunil, one of the accused, and Christuraj,, are neighbours and have some issues between them. The police said that the attack was due to this. According to Christuraj,, the seven-year-old dog, Bruno, was a calm and quiet animal. He told the media that the dog usually went to the beach to play and that it had rested near the boat for a while, following which the accused attacked it.
In April 2021, a man was arrested by the Edakkara police in Malappuram district for tying a dog to his scooter using a rope and dragging it along the road. The dog was later rescued by a witness who shot the video. A similar incident of cruelty took place in Ernakulam in December 2020. A dog owner was arrested for tying a dog to the boot of a moving car using a rope and dragging it on the road for about 500 metres.