A 27-year-old YouTuber was arrested for cruelty against animals after he uploaded a video showing his pet dog floating in the air with helium gas balloons tied to its collar, police said on Thursday.
The accused, Gaurav Sharma, who has 4.15 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, is a resident of Panchsheel Vihar in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar.
In the video shot on May 21, Sharma can be seen with his pet dog in a park. The dog is strapped to a bunch of balloons and is set loose to fly.
A case was lodged against Sharma under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, the Disaster Management Act and relevant sections of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act on the complaint of Gaurav Gupta, a member of the People for Animals Society, deputy commissioner of police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said.
The officer said the footage had been removed from YouTube.
After facing criticism for the video, Sharma had uploaded another one the next day, apologising for his act. He claimed he had taken adequate safety measures while shooting the video featuring his pet dog, Dollar, and assured his viewers that he would not repeat it again.
