Eight boys were held on Thursday for allegedly burning alive three puppies at a graveyard in the Musheerabad area here, police said. “Eight boys, aged between 10 to 17, were apprehended in connection with the incident and all of them have been now produced before a Juvenile Justice Board (JJB),” said B Mohan Kumar from Musheerabad Police Station.
The attack on the dogs took place at a graveyard here on Saturday afternoon and came to light on Tuesday when a video of the incident went viral on social media.
A group of minor boys caught three stray puppies and tied them together. They then dragged the hapless animals to some distance and put them into a fire made out of jute bags and dry sticks, Shreya Paropkari, an animal rights activist, had said in a complaint filed with Musheerabad Police.
“One of the perpetrators recorded the entire incident and is heard instructing and instigating the others to set them on fire. The recordings were recovered from a fish stall owner in Musheerabad,” she said in the complaint.
Following the complaint, a case was registered on Tuesday under IPC Section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc) and relevant sections of Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act in connection with the incident.
The incident in Hyderabad closely follows the case of a dog being thrown off a terrace by medical students in Chennai and other animal cruelty cases such as serial killing of dogs in Delhi, a bestiality case in Kerala and a case of puppy killing in Bengaluru.