Maimed at BJP rally, police horse Shaktiman dies
DEHRADUN: Police horse Shaktiman, who lost his left hind leg after a brutal beating allegedly by a BJP legislator, died Wednesday, days after receiving a prosthetic limb.
Officials said the 13-year-old collapsed after an anesthesia shot. He was buried at the police lines, his home.
BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi, arrested on March 18 for the attack and now out on bail, visited the burial site. “I am not at fault. If found guilty, cut my leg,” he said.
As Uttarakhand’s former chief minister Harish Rawat expressed grief, politics followed. “Shaktiman could have lived had the Congress government given him good care,” said BJP state president Ajay Bhatt.
Uttarakhand Police horse Shaktiman died on Wednesday evening, a month after fracturing its left hind leg in a thrashing allegedly by a BJP legislator, sparking a political blame game in the state.
The 14-year-old horse was injured at a rally in Dehradun on March 14, where BJP workers clashed with police and party MLA Ganesh Joshi beat up Shaktiman.
The animal’s leg was amputated three days later but doctors said it couldn’t adapt to the prosthetic leg attached to the limb. “The animal collapsed due to shock after it was injected with an anesthesia dose,” Sadanand Date, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Dehradun said. “Shaktiman was a police officer on duty; person who ultimately killed him should be arrested for killing a police officer… Horses should no longer be part of our police systems; they serve no purpose #RIPShaktiman,” Union women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi tweeted.
The Congress blamed the BJP for the death of the horse, pointing out police had registered a case against Joshi for hitting Shaktiman. “Shaktiman’s death is a shock. I was hoping to see him standing on his prosthetic leg in the next police parade,” former chief minister Harish Rawat said.
State BJP president Ajay Bhatt said the horse died because of mistakes made by the previous Harish Rawat government and lack of proper treatment. He also attempted to defend Joshi, saying Maneka Gandhi was possibly not aware of the facts. Joshi said he was saddened by Shaktiman’s death but was not guilty. “If found guilty, cut my leg,” he told news agency ANI. Police personnel and doctors taking care of the injured horse were ‘disheartened’. “Today morning, it (Shaktiman) responded way better than any other days,” said Jamie Vaughan of The Maya Foundation, who was taking care of the animal.
Equine surgeon Phiroz Khambatta said,“We were about to do the last set of work so the leg could get fully functional. It was recovering well. I think it was a work of fate,” he told HT.