[Tragic] Shaktiman the horse dies. Mourning on Twitter

He might have had social media overwhelmed with love and compassion, but life has been duly cut short for Shaktiman.

The beautiful white police horse, whose left hind leg had to be amputated after it was attacked by BJP legislator from Mussourie, Ganesh Joshi, near the Uttarakhand Assembly on March 14, leading to a massive outrage, has died.

The bizarre display of cruelty caught on camera had caused much outrage on social media, with some even calling for a Shaktiman Act, curbing down brutalities against hapless creatures.

Though hope that Shaktiman would live had surfaced after he survived the amputation, it seems he couldn't make it through the fresh round of surgery on Wednesday on injured leg, which had become badly infected. Though attempts had been made to keep him alive, including flying down American doctor Tim mahoney to deliver a prosthetic limb for Shaktiman to walk, nothing worked at the end.

"The horse passed away at 5.30pm. He was suffering from medical-related complications. The exact cause will be known only after post-mortem," IG Garhwal Sanjay Gunjyal said.

Platitudes poured in from the political quarters with former Uttarakhand CM  Harish Rawat saying, "It was a brave soldier of Uttarakhand and died while performing its duty". Ganesh Joshi, who was arrested and later released on bail for the attack, had to say this:

Meanwhile, Union minister and BJP leader, Maneka Gandhi, has isued a statement urging the police to put an end to using horses and other animals in police forces. "I am deeply saddened by the death of Shaktiman. It is an extremely unfortunate incident. Horses should no longer be part of our police systems. They serve no purpose and in every crowd engagement they are at the mercy of any vicious person who is too cowardly to do anything but injure the defenceless animal. Shaktiman was a police officer on duty and the person who put him through so much pain and ultimately killed him should be arrested for killing a police officer," she said.

As expected, Twitter went into mourning for the brave horse.