Police File Case After Video Of Horse Being Forced To Smoke On Kedarnath Trek Goes Viral

Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district police have filed an FIR, or First Information Report, to investigate a viral video of two men forcing a horse to smoke allegedly at Kedarnath trek. In the clip, the men are seen overpowering the horse and forcing it to reportedly smoke weed through one of its nostrils. 

"#Uttrakhand Some people are making a horse smoke weed forcefully at the trek of Kedarnath temple. @uttarakhandcops @DehradunPolice @RudraprayagPol @AshokKumar_IPS should look into this matter and find the culprit behind this," a Twitter user wrote while sharing the clip. 

Take a look below:

#Uttrakhand Some people are making a horse smoke weed forcefully at the trek of Kedarnath temple.@uttarakhandcops @DehradunPolice @RudraprayagPol @AshokKumar_IPS
should look into this matter and find the culprit behind thispic.twitter.com/yyX1BNMiLk

— Himanshi Mehra 🔱 (@manshi_mehra_) June 23, 2023

In the disturbing clip, two men are seen forcing a horse to smoke through its nostrils. While one of the men is seen closing the horse's nostrils and covering its mouth with his hands, another is seen putting the rolled paper into the animal's nose. At the end of the video, the horse is also seen exhaling smoke while the men force the animal to inhale the smoke again. 

In response to the now-viral video, the Rudraprayag police department said that a complaint has been registered against the guardian of the horse. "A total of 14 cases have been registered by Rudraprayag district police in relation to cruelty to equine animals during this year's yatra," the cops tweeted in Hindi. 

The video caught the attention of Bollywood actor Raveena Tandon. Sharing the clip on Twitter, Ms Tandon called for the arrest of the two men. "Can we put a stop to the constant abuse that horses are going through in our holy places. What karma or prayers are these people gaining, when the innocent are being tortured," the actor wrote on the microblogging site.

Can we put a stop to the constant abuse that horses are going through in our holy places . What karma or prayers are these people gaining,when the innocent are being tortured. This is a reel going viral from #kedarnath . Can these men be arrested? @pushkardhami ji🙏🏻… pic.twitter.com/gfYB1eYwtF

— Raveena Tandon (@TandonRaveena) June 23, 2023

A number of Twitter users also expressed their anguish and demanded strict action against the men seen in the clip. 

"Highly condemnable! Such people should be thrashed and thrown in jail," wrote one user. "This kind of cruelty to the horses for taking yatris to Kedarnath should be handed as per provisions of law and the guilty should be punished. My heart goes out for the animals," said another.

Some users even shared other videos of animal cruelty that took place along the route of the Kedarnath trek. One such video showed a horse lying dead along the road even as people walked by it.