Three college students in India’s national capital of Delhi got abused by the police for wanting to help an injured pig on the night of October 21. The animal was injured and squealing in pain on the street late at night.
They called an animal care organization which advised them to call the police since the pig could belong to someone. They added that if the students took the pig to the vet, they could later get accused of stealing him.
When a policeman arrived, things took an ugly turn. Tenzin Lhakpa Tsering, one of the students, said a policeman came on a motorcycle and got mad at them for calling the police over a pig. The students shared a video clip, where the cop is seen abusing them and badgering them to take the pig home.
“He was threatening to shoot me,” said Tsering. The cop picked up a stick and beat them, leaving one student with a badly bruised leg and the other with an ankle injury.
The youth were too scared to report this at a police station and didn’t even tell their family till the beating began hurting the next day. Tsering’s mother rushed to Delhi and his father, an animal activist and co-founder of Tibetan Animal Lovers, called noted animal rights activist Puja Bahukhandi for help.
Bahukhandi said that the cop’s wife called her to ask for forgiveness. Tsering said the cop himself has called him to apologize. He added that he is getting support from numerous animal lovers. The cop has been suspended.
The students or police don’t know what happened with the pig but he isn’t lying on the streets anymore.
The author is a Dehradun-based independent journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.
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