A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttarakhand is under fire for allegedly hitting a police horse mercilessly and breaking one of its hind legs during a protest march. The incident took place on Monday during a protest against Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat near the state Assembly in Dehradun.
The horse, part of the Uttarakhand Mounted Police, will probably have to be put down because of BJP Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi's violent action. Joshi attacked the police horse deployed to control the protest using a stick.
Joshi lathicharged the horse as other protesters also joined in. According to the police, doctors say the horse's leg will have to be amputated and a case will also be filed against the BJP MLA.
But Joshi defended himself. "The horse was given water and it was absolutely fine. The horse may have felt ill because it was made to stand in the sun and must have been thirsty, not because of anything else. The moment it drank water, it was fine," he claimed.
But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) demanded strict action against the lawmaker. The horse is in immense pain. Doctors say he will never be able to walk again and his legs are likely to be amputated. Somebody who can do this to a horse can do this to anyone. He must not be in such a position," said PETA campaign manager Bhubhaneshwari Gupta.
The alleged incident happened during BJP's march against "corruption and poor law and order" to the Uttarakhand Assembly which was stopped at barricades put up by Uttarakhand police near Ripsana bridge, a few metres from the state legislature premises.
Videos of the incident show Joshi attacking the horse with a stick from the front and also its broken hind leg. Harish Rawat's media in-charge Surendra Kumar reacted to the incident saying that the animal had "fallen a victim to Joshi's cruelty".
But BJP spokesman Munna Singh Chauhan denied the charge claiming that the horse had got injured after one of its legs got stuck in a pothole.
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