MUMBAI: A senior citizen from Girgaon in south Mumbai has been booked for indulging in animal cruelty.
The accused, Chandrakant Ketkar (72), used to hit cats at his locality in Khadilkar Road with a stick embedded with sharp nails, thereby wounding the local area cats.
Animal activist Sneha Visaria of Just Smile Charitable Trust told TOI: "We had got specific information that an old man armed with sharp nails pierced on a stick was going about hitting the stray cats at Khadilkar road in Girgaon, simply because he does not like cats. We activists had first contacted the police in February this year on this animal cruelty issue; so the cops officially warned the accused (Ketkar) then. However, since he continued to hit and injure the cats despite the warning, we now decided to lodge the FIR against him."
The V P Road police station has booked Ketkar under the relevant sections of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
"At least a dozen cats were injured due to this man's irrational hatred for the felines around his residential locality. While the police had initially only warned him, since he is a senior citizen, the accused just did not heed to it and continued to walk on Khadilkar road swinging the stick with nails on it. We thank the V P Road police station for cooperating and showing sensitivity towards this type of animal cruelty," added Visaria.
An incriminating video evidence of the accused hitting the cats has also been submitted to the police. Meanwhile, the injured cats have been given on-the-spot medical treatment by animal lovers.
