KOCHI: The High Court has registered a suo-motu case in the incident where a dog was brutally thrashed to death and then thrown into the sea at Vizhinjam Adimalathura beach. A Labrador dog of Christuraj, a native of Adimalathura, was beaten to death by three persons which drew a lot of criticism on social media yesterday. Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar wrote a letter to the Chief Justice asking him to consider the matter as a suo moto petition. With the approval of the Chief Justice, the matter will be considered as a petition today. A division bench comprising Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice P Gopinath will consider the case.

In his letter, Justice Jayasankaran Nambiar said that killing a dog was not an isolated incident and that there had been several such incidents in the last two years. Three people, including a minor, were arrested Wednesday night for beating a dog. But the letter says prosecution measures are often ineffective in such cases. The letter asked that the government take a look at the steps taken to prevent cruelty to animals and consider the matter as a public interest petition. Subsequently, the Central and State Governments, the Animal Husbandry Boards, the DGP and the Veterinary University have been made opponents in the petition.