Lucknow, Apr 4 (IANS): A couple in the Gomti Nagar area of the state capital brutalised a stray dog by beating it, tying it to a bike and dragging it for some distance.

Both were arrested on Wednesday and later released. A video of the incident went viral, showing a man and a woman thrashing a dog with a rod, while another video showed the man tying the dog with a wire.

DCP central Raveena Tyagi said, “The incident happened on April 1, while the FIR was registered on April 2 on the complaint given by an animal activist Charu Khare.

An FIR has been registered and action is being taken.” According to the police, the duo was booked under Sections 429 (mischief), 504 (insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.

“The dog was in a critical condition with a broken front leg. Eyewitnesses recounted the horrifying scene where the man Jagdish tied the dog to his bike and dragged it while the woman Sonam hit the canine with a stick,” said Khare, who runs an NGO called Aasra based in Lucknow.

She said that a close relative of the accused had shared the video with her and even gave the dog first aid.

“The dog's condition is stable and will take a month to recover. His medical will be done on Thursday,” she added.

“When I reached the spot after getting the information and questioned the couple, they misbehaved with me. So, I had to call 112 and take the help of the police. However, even when police reached the spot, they misbehaved, verbally abusing the cops and threatening to kill me,” she said in the FIR.

As per the reports, the couple brutalised the dog because it bit their daughter when she was playing outside her house.