Police horse Shaktiman, after losing leg, loses life

Lucknow: Shaktiman, the police horse who was injured during a BJP protest in Uttarakhand, died on Wednesday evening. The 13-year-old horse, whose leg had to be amputated after the injury, was given a prosthetic leg brought from the US but he did not respond to it, the doctors said.

Shaktiman had spent the past few weeks at the police lines in Dehradun, where a group of policemen and doctors looked after him.

Sources said that the horse had almost stopped eating after the amputation and had become increasingly weak.

BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi, accused of instigating the brutal attack on the horse, was arrested and later released on bail. He was charged with cruelty and maiming an animal.

In visuals that horrified many across the country, the horse was seen taking multiple blows and dragging its broken, mangled hind limb.

Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat visited the injured animal and ensured the best possible treatment.

A fortnight ago, pictures of Shaktiman with the prosthetic leg were published in which the animal looked visibly pained and in discomfort.

Meanwhile, Union minister and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi sought the arrest of the person responsible for the death of Shaktiman’ and demanded the animal should no more be part of police forces.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of Shaktiman. It is an extremely unfortunate incident. Horses should no longer be part of our police system,” she said.

Ms Gandhi said Shaktiman was a “police officer on duty” and the person responsible for his death should be arrested for killing a “police officer”.

“They serve no purpose and in every crowd engagement they are at the mercy of any vicious person who is too cowardly to do anything but injure the defenseless animal. Shaktiman was a police officer on duty and the person who put him through so much pain and ultimately killed him should be arrested for killing a police officer,” she said.

Shaktiman was drag-ged into a raging political row in the weeks before Uttarakhand was placed under President’s rule. The BJP had then attacked the Congress accusing it of using the horse to target its lawmaker and to try to keep him away from assembly proceedings and possible voting.

BJP’s Shaina NC said this was not an issue to be politicised. “It is the loss of life of an animal,” she said, adding animal lovers across the country feel that a wrong has been done. “I think we all need to own this up at our own end,” she said.

Claiming that Shaktiman was essentially killed the day his leg was broken, PETA India called for strengthening laws to save other animals from similar cruel deaths.