This post is an exception as it is not regarding a dog but a calf who was ruthlessly beaten by a man on 5th Jan 2021. The calf was almost dead when he was brought to Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre. And he took his last breath yesterday.
He was a healthy calf who was probably standing beside his mother on the streets of Manadavali, East Delhi when without any provocation he attacked a passerby with his head. The attack was a mild one but it shocked the passerby and he stumbled and the papers he was holding fell on the ground. The man reacted with anger and kicked the calf with his legs and then held him by his head and slapped him several times.
But that was not all. He picked up the papers from the ground and went on the other side of the street and after a while came back with a brick as if his revenge was still not over. The man then very ruthlessly kept on beating the calf with the brick till it fell on the ground. The calf was seriously injured and was taken to Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre. The calf which was once healthy, suffered intolerable pain in these last few days of his life and ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
Fortunately the whole incident got captured on CCTV and the world came to know of it. Many more incidents of animal cruelty happen on the streets of India but no one knows about them because they don't get captured on camera and even if they do then no one bothers to report them to the police. To watch the video kindly go on the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/355493465008889/permalink/841877993037098/
As this incident got captured on CCTV and was reported to the police hence the culprit was arrested but due to weak laws was later released on bail. Many news channels covered this incident but Zee News a Hindi channel went a step further and showed the other side of the story. They went to the culprit's house. His name is Kamal.
Kamal has a wife who turned blind in the year 2014 because of brain heamearreage. He has an old mother who is over 80 years of age and is suffering from tuberculosis. His elder daughter ran away just a day before the incident happened and he is a single earner who works at a petrol station and earns a meagre salary of Rs. 15,000 per month. He has a younger daughter too. The day he hit the calf he was coming after seeing a doctor who had seen his wife's medical report.
According to Zee News, Kamal was under a lot of stress so when the calf hit him and the papers fell on the ground Kamal turned blind with rage and anger and then beat the calf so mercilessly.
The paper which fell from his hand was the medical report of his wife. To watch the other side of the story by Zee News kindly go on the link below:
Kamal indeed was facing a lot of stress and pain, hence he got angry and out of anger he became so cruel.. But can any amount of stress and anger be the right justification for cruelty?
According to Zee News out of every 10 people in India 9 are suffering from stress so does that give those 9 licence to beat an animal?
What if Kamal was pushed accidently by a 7 year old boy standing along with his mother on the streets of Mandavali? And Kamal had stumbled and the papers in his hand fell on the ground?
Would have Kamal slapped the boy and kicked him with his legs? After picking up the papers would he have returned with a brick in his hand and kept on beating the boy till he would have fell to the ground?
The answer is probably no. If the answer was yes then Kamal today would have been behind bars or may be in a mental asylum.
Also the boy's mother and other passerby on the streets would have stopped Kamal from beating the boy. And by all likelihood no media channel would have shown the other side of the story.
But in this case the calf's helpless mother had no other option but to watch her son being beaten and the passerbys also did nothing. After all it was just an animal being beaten up by a human being.
A sane man no matter how much in stress will know his boundaries. We as humans have all experienced stress and anger but rarely do we break the law. Because we know that we will be punished for our crime. And the ones who break it face the music no matter what the reason is.
We empathize with Kamal. Life has been very harsh to him and his family but that in no way entitles him to beat the animal the way he did.
He took out all his frustration on the poor animal because he probably didn't know that beating an animal or even killing them may take him to prison. Had he known that he would be put behind bars then probably he would have controlled his anger. That is true for majority of Indians. In fact animal.laws are Greek and Latin to most of the educated in India.
India needs to create awareness about animal laws and media channels like Zee News and others can contribute immensely in this.
Zee News brought the other side of the human story which is commendable but what is it doing to stop such animal cruelty? How can it stop such incidents from happening in future? Do they have plans to stop such animal cruelty in India? Because most of the time it is not people like Kamal who indulge in animal cruelty. They are not under any stress or mental agony.
It's time the Indian media became the voice of the voiceless. Handful of caregivers, NGOs and animal rights activists together cannot create awareness at a scale which a media house can. That's the power of media.
The calf is no more but that didn't become a news.
it's time Govt of India amended the animal.laws because when laws become strict people no matter how much in stress and in anger know very well where to draw a line.
Then every Kamal will think twice before beating a helpless animal.........