Caught on camera beating up horse, BJP's Ganesh Joshi defends the act

How do you react after being filmed beating up a horse mercilessly during a protest and leaving it to bleed? Protest a little more about how the media did not give you a chance to defend your position, believes Ganesh Joshi, BJP MLA from Uttarakhand, who is currently facing flak for putting up a gruesome show of animal cruelty.

Joshi, who can be seen wielding a lathi aimed at a police personnel riding the horse, blames the media for its biased coverage of the event, maintaining that he did not injure the horse - whose leg will soon be amputated.

The BJP MLA told India Today TV that his apparent reckless reaction was actually an attempt to protect fellow protesters. He suggested that a party worker was left paralysed after being assaulted by a police personnel. This, the MLA says, forced him to intervene with lathi and blows to ensure there were no more casualties.

Joshi stands his ground even as the horse has lost his permanently - with broken bones and a mercy killing to look forward to. Does India need such legislators who offer defence to justify barbarity?

Meanwhile, Joshi has shared a Facebook post in his defence, detailing his version of the event: