UP cops charge man with drowning a rat in drain

BAREILLY: Police in UP have filed a chargesheet against the 30-year-old man from Budaun who was accused of allegedly killing a rat by tying it to a brick and drowning it in a drain last November.
This is perhaps the first such instance in UP of a chargesheet being filed in such a case, a senior police officer said on Monday.
The accused, Manoj Kumar, a potter who lives in a small house with his three daughters, was booked last year under IPC section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle) along with section 11 (1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Police took action after a complaint was lodged against him at Civil Lines police station by Vikendra Sharma, a local animal rights activist, in November 2022, following a viral video on social media purportedly showing a dead rat with its tail tied to a stone. Kumar was subsequently granted bail by a local court.

The autopsy of the rat had later confirmed the cause of death as "dry drowning". According to the police, on the basis of the autopsy report, video evidence and statement of locals, the investigating officer has filed a chargesheet against Kumar and it will be submitted before the court after the circle officer's verification.
Sharma, the complainant who pursued the case beyond the FIR, said on Monday: "Rats may be just a rodent for many people, but the way it was killed comes under the category of cruelty against animals. Hence, I pursued this case and will ensure that no one tries to do the same to any other animal in future." Sharma had ensured that the rat's carcass was sent to IVRI-Bareilly for autopsy and paid all the expenses for transporting it by a car to the lab complex.

The accused, on the other hand, had claimed that his children had killed the rat and he had only taken it out from the drain when the video was shot.
Circle officer (Budaun city), Alok Mishra, told TOI: "The chargesheet has been submitted by the investigating officer and after reviewing it, we will present it before the court. As far as I know, this is probably the first case in UP where someone has been chargesheeted for killing a rat."