Police on Tuesday arrested three people for beating a dog in the streets of the capital’s Rampura area last month.
This is the first time in the country’s history that anyone has ever been arrested for abusing an animal.
The arrestees were identified as Johnny, Sobhan alias Shuvo and Imran, all residents of the Wapda area of Rampura.
Animal welfare group Obhoyaronno filed a case with Rampura police station on June 18, after learning of the incident.
Obhoyaronno, the Bangladesh Animal Welfare Foundation, was established in 2009.
According to a post on its official Facebook page, the animal rights organisation said: “We came to know about the incident only because people bothered to rescue the dog, took down the names of the perpetrators and testified against them.”
Brothers Shourav Shamim and Zahid Hossain have been treating and caring for the battered dog, who they have named “Whitey,” according to Obhoyaronno’s Facebook page.
The organisation’s head of legal affairs, Nadia Choudhury, was able to file the case after overcoming a number of hurdles, the group said.
Sub-Inspector (SI) of Rampura police station Jasim Uddin, the investigating officer in the case, said the three accused in the case had been absconding until their arrest on Tuesday.
The case was filed under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1920. He said this was the first time he had ever seen a case filed over animal abuse.
The SI said, if proven guilty, the accused could face up to three months in jail.
Obhoyaronno’s founder Rubaiya Ahmed told reporters that if abusers were successfully prosecuted and punished, the incidence of animal abuse would decrease.
Professor Dr Md Anwarul Islam, chief executive officer of Wild Team, formerly the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh, and also chairman of the zoology department at Dhaka University, said beating a dog should be considered a crime and the perpetrators should be punished.
He said society must change its attitude towards animals. “Punishment for the offenders will caution others against mistreating animals.”
Rubaiya added: “If they are punished, others will realise they cannot do as they please to an animal.”
“In order to effectively prevent animal cruelty, society must realise that animals have feelings, feel pain and deserve to be treated with kindness and compassion,” Dr Anwarul Islam said.