U'khand HC to hear fresh petition in death case of cop horse Shaktiman

Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court will on June 9 hold a hearing in the 2016 Shaktiman death case, on a petition seeking punishment for the accused.

In December 2024, the high court had reserved the decision on the petition of Pithoragarh resident Hoshiyar Singh Bisht, concluding the hearing in the case.

However, with the emergence of the petition, the case will now again be heard by a single bench of Justice Rakesh Thapliyal.

In his petition, Bisht has challenged the acquittal of the accused by the Dehradun District Court.

In 2016, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gheraoed the Vidhan Sabha in protest against the then Congress government and during the melee, Shaktiman, the horse, was injured. He later succumbed to the wounds.

Shaktiman's injury was blamed on then BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi, who is currently a cabinet minister in the Pushkar Singh Dhami government.

Bisht, in his original petition, had alleged that Joshi broke the leg of the horse with a stick which led to his death.

Police registered an FIR against Joshi at Dehradun's Nehru Colony Police Station April 23, 2016, and filed a charge sheet against him on May 16 the same year.

Later, the state government filed an application to withdraw the case in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate of Dehradun, after which, on September 23, 2021, Joshi was acquitted of all charges.

The case was dismissed in the lower court on the ground that Bisht was neither the complainant in the case, nor a witness.

The petitioner has requested the high court to overturn the decision of the district court and ensure legal action and punishment against Joshi and others involved in the matter.