Two held for killing 16 puppies in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Police on Tuesday arrested two nursing students for clobbering of 16 puppies to death on January 13 even as the city struggled to emerge from the shock triggered by a video that caught two women in the gruesome act.

One of those arrested, Moutusi Mondal, is a first-year student, while the other, Soma Barman, is in the second year. “Soma Barman and Moutusi Mondal have been arrested. They admitted to the crime,” said Dwaipayan Biswas, the deputy superintendent of the three-member probe committee of the state-run N R S Medical College and Hospital, who submitted his initial report on Tuesday morning.

“It is a serious offence and I think they will face punishment,” he said before the arrest.

“Deputy commissioner, eastern suburban division, Debasmita Das told us that Barman and Mondal will be produced at Seladah court at 2pm on Wednesday. They were slapped IPC sections 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle or any animal), 291 (continuance of nuisance after injunction to discontinue) and 11l (treating animals cruelly),” said Tathagata Mukherjee, who along with two other animal rights activists Susmita Chatterjee and actor Srilekha Mitra, was briefed by the police to quell the growing protests of the agitators outside the police station.

If the prosecution can prove section 429, it can put the accused in jail for a maximum of five years.

Mukherjee said that they will appoint a lawyer who will be present in the court on Wednesday to plead so that the accused are not given bail. “We, on behalf of the animal rights activists of the city, will appeal to the lawyers not to take up the brief of the accused,” said Mukherjee, who is a TV serial actor.b

Later in the evening, West Bengal Nurses’ Unity demanded the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to take immediate steps to rid all government hospitals of stray dogs in the next two days.

“Unless that is done we will be forced to resort to agitation,” said the Unity joint secretary, Bhaswati Mukherjee.