CHENNAI: Here is yet another horrifying case of people flaunting their insensitivity in their mad lust for views and shares on popular video-sharing apps. An 18-year-old teenager in Tamil Nadu was arrested for hanging a cat by a rope to make his video look ‘special’ and get as many views for it on TikTok.

The heinous crime of cruelty to animals, which happened near Tirunelveli city on May 16^th, came to light after a local activist lodged a complaint with the police. Based on it, the police registered a case under section 429 of the IPC for ‘mischief by killing an animal’ and arrested the youngster, named Thangaraj.

Thangaraj uploaded a video on May 16^th, showing a dead cat that was hanging by a rope from the ceiling of his house. In the most nauseating manner, another youth was seen swinging the dead cat even as an audio clip was played in the background from a popular comedy scene of Vadivelu from the film ‘Friends’. Netizens who watched the shocking visual were outraged and demanded the arrest of Thangaraj.

The teenager apparently resorted to this insensitive act in the hope of garnering maximum views and shares for his video on TikTok, a police officer associated with the investigation of the case said. Thangaraj was later released on bail.

This was not the first instance of people displaying cruelty to animals for the sake of their TikTok videos. Exactly a month ago, on April 23^rd, six persons were arrested near Trichy by the Tamil Nadu forest department officials for killing a monitor lizard and feasting on its meat. The six accused were caught after their video of eating the meat went viral on the social media. The forest department sleuths had to hunt them down and arrest them after receiving the horrifying video.

A few years back, a video of some youngsters throwing a dog down from the top floor of a building somewhere in Tamil Nadu caused ripples on the social media with many demanding severe action for the culprits.