The union minister for women and child development on Wednesday sought the arrest of the person who caused the death of the police horse Shaktiman. She also advocated the removal of horses from the Indian police force.
Gandhi, also a renowned animal activist in India, said, “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.”
Shaktiman was severely injured in his hind leg during a BJP protest in Uttarakhand on 13 March. The 13-year-old horse’s leg was amputated and replaced with a prosthetic leg imported from the US. But the horse died in Dehradun as he did not respond to the treatment according to the doctors who treated him.
Gandhi equated the deceased horse to a “police officer on duty” and insisted the arrest of the person for killing a police officer.
She stressed the removal of mounted horses from the police force. “They (horses in police force) 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,” media reports quoted the minister as saying.
