On Sunday, a video clip of two men brutally thrashing a dog by tying it to a pole went viral on social media with many people calling the act inhuman and the height of cruelty against a stray animal.

According to the District Police Office, Kavrepalanchowk the incident took place at Atthaishkilo of Dhulikhel on March 31 and they are working to identify the person who took the video clip.

In the clip which was shared on Instagram by a username Ruiyana Basnet, two men are seen repeatedly hitting a dog with a spade and a rod while the poor animal was tied to a pole. The social media burst with outrage soon after the clip was posted on the internet.

“So heart wrenching. Why are people behaving this way? The animal doesn’t understand and cannot speak human language and those who can speak and understand should not have killed the animal in such a fashion. A very strong animal law needs to be implemented. They have killed one animal today and they can kill others tomorrow,” wrote one twitter user.

“How can these people [be] so inhuman to tie the dog to a pole and beat to death,” Questioned another Instagram user demanding strict action against those involved.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Hari Khatiwada, of the District Police Office Kavrepalanchowk, they received a complaint about the incident on Saturday from a dog rescue organisation.

A few hours after receiving complaints about the incident, animal rights campaigners from Kathmandu had gone to the area and started vandalising the house of the alleged torturers. Police have detained some of the campaigners.

However, a campaigner, who went there on Saturday with a team accused the locals of misbehavior.

“When we went to the area for peaceful talks, the family of the attackers became aggressive and started abusing the team,” Irfan Khan, founder of Paaila, an animal welfare organisation, told the post on the phone. “A woman spitted on my team members and also filed a complaint with the police alleging that we entered her home forcibly, looted jewellery and harassed her.”

According to Khatiwada, also the information officer at the District Police Office, Kavrepalanchowk, their preliminary investigation showed that the dog named Khaire was tortured to death by the locals after it attacked an 8-year-old child. “It was a brutal act, so action will be taken as per the law,” he said. “Investigation is underway.”

According to Section 290 of the Criminal Code, with an exception for training or improving its physical capacity, anyone found guilty of behaving cruelly with birds or animals is liable to three months in jail and Rs 5000 fine or both.

Similarly, Section 291 says, with an exception for religious purposes, anyone found guilty of killing birds and animals in public places is liable to one month in jail and Rs 5,000 fine or both.

But campaigners working in the dog rescue sector say seldom is the law implemented.

According to Khan his team witnesses such cases very often but when they try to file complaints with the police for animal cruelty their complaints are mostly ignored saying it’s just stray dogs.

“Even in Khaire’s case, when we went to the police to file a complaint they laughed at us. “Only after the video went viral on social media that police initiated their investigation,” said Khan who had gone to Atthaishkilo for talks after the March 31 incident.

When the Post asked a high ranking police officer about the allegation, he said they already have hundreds of more important complaints involving murder of humans awaiting investigations, therefore they don’t have resources for dealing with dog killings. “There are more important investigations to do,” said the officer in the condition of anonymity.

However Senior Superintendent Basanta Bahadur Kunwar, spokesperson for Nepal Police, claimed that if police receive a complaint about animal torture or killing along with evidence, they register such complaint and take action as per law.

Meanwhile, another animal welfare campaigner from Banepa requesting anonymity said he and his friends are receiving threats from the locals after that argument in Atthaishkilo. “The people are killing more stray dogs saying the dogs are rabid and have even warned us that we should pay for the treatment for any dog bite incident there,” he said. “They also told us to take along all the stray dogs and feed them.”

The animal welfare campaigners also said they would stage a demonstration in Maitighar Mandala on Wednesday.