A 36-year-old man from Bengaluru has been arrested for his antics of keeping dogs on top of a car while driving. The incident took place on December 3 at Kalyan Nagar, of which a video has gone viral. The car, which had a fake ‘Press’ sticker with the tagline ‘Hari Likes Risk’ printed in it, was also seized. The driver was identified as Harish, believed to be a hairstylist residing in Chelekere near Kalyan Nagar.
The video, posted by a social media user, showed the red car with three passengers wading through the traffic with three dogs including a Shih Tzu, on top of the car. “There was no harness or tether of any kind. He did this for at least two kilometers. I said something as simple as ‘Excuse me, this is not safe’. He has been seen doing this in the area before,” the video was captioned.
The video also showed Harish, who was driving the car with two younger passengers alongside him, using cuss words against the person recording the video. The Society for Animal Safety (SAS) filed a complaint with multiple officials including the city commissioner of police after the video went viral. In a statement, they said that the act not only caused extreme distress to the animals but posed significant danger of causing accidents.
A case has been registered under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and Section 351 (2) (criminal intimidation). According to reports, Harish claimed he did the stunt to show off the three dogs that he owned. “He initially said he bought a used car with the PRESS sticker, then he claimed to be a mediaperson. Later, he changed his version and said he used to work in a salon. Investigation is underway to know if the sticker was put to evade inspection from law enforcement agencies.