Shaktiman, the police horse that grabbed national and international headlines after suffering horrific injuries during a BJP protest rally on March 14 that led to the amputation of its hind leg, died of infection in Dehradun on Wednesday evening.
A number of senior police officers rushed to Police lines as news of the stately white horse’s death spread like wildfire and left many people, who had been praying for its recovery, shocked.
Reacting to the news of the horse’s death, Union Minister and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi demanded that animals should no longer be part of the police force.
The horse suffered multiple fractures to its hind leg after it was brutally beaten during clashes between BJP protesters and police last month in Dehradun. BJP MlA Ganesh Joshi, accused of assaulting Shaktiman, was arrested after national outrage over the incident. The hind leg of the 13-year-old horse, that was part of the Uttarakhand Mounted Police since 2006, was amputated after infection spread, and he was confined to the Police lines. However, things brightened up after a prosthetic leg, brought from the USA, was fitted.
Shaktiman’s death took all by surprise as police officers and doctors attending on him were confident that the horse was recovering fast.
“Though the artificial limb was put on Shaktiman, it was not working well and he was putting his entire weight on the other leg. That is why the infection spread. Today also a lot of care was taken and about eight doctors attended to the horse. It is sad that we could not save him,” RS Meena, IG law and Order, Uttarakhand, said.
Expressing shock over the demise of the horse, former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat said, “Shaktiman was a brave soldier of Uttarakhand and died while performing its duty.”
Rawat said that they had left no stone unturned to save the crippled horse’s life. “But all efforts proved futile,” he said.
Asking political leaders to exercise restraint while staging rallies, he said they should refrain from taking things to the pitch of a war against police.
BJP chief spokesperson Munna Singh Chauhan also expressed deep sorrow over Shaktiman’s death.
Maneka Gandhi sought the arrest of the person responsible for the death of the police horse.
“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. 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.