‘He Did Not Hit the Horse’, Says Daughter of BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi

Neha Joshi believes that her father is being accused of beating the horse, in the absence of any real evidence.

BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi allegedly beating a horse during a protest march in Dehradun. (Photo: ANI screengrab)

A horse deployed as part of the mounted police was injured during a protest march by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) to the Uttarakhand state assembly in Dehradun on 15 March 2016.

The incident happened during BJP’s march against ‘corruption and poor law and order’ to the state assembly which was stopped at barricades put up by Uttarakhand police near Ripsana bridge, a few metres from the state assembly premises.

Hours after the incident, two videos, one of them purportedly showing the horse’s broken hind leg and the other showing the BJP legislator from Mussoorie attacking the horse with a lathi from the front went viral.

The Quint speaks with Neha Joshi, daughter of the accused BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi about what really happened and why she thinks her father is being framed.

The video footage sent by ANI shows your father brandishing a stick and beating the horse. 

Horsemen had been deployed and the protestors were being hit with sticks and whipped by the horsemen. A lot of people were chased and injured. One party worker was trampled by a horse and is presently admitted in the ICU. When the police used force on the protesters Mr Joshi snatched a lathi from a policeman and struck the ground with it 4 or 5 times. I am sure when someone is threatened of being trampled by a 600kg force; they would take an evasive action as a knee-jerk reaction. A normal person feels threatened under such situations, especially when a few people have already been trampled and injured by the equestrian units. The point being that he never hit the animal of which he is being accused. It wasn’t as if he was carrying the lathi with him and launched a pre-meditated attack. The video footage clearly shows that the lathi did not make a single contact with a human or animal. So the allegation that he hit the horse is completely baseless. As of 15 March 2016 the SSP Dehradun has issued an official statement confirming that indeed no blows were dealt to the poor horse and his injuries were caused by a fall. A separate video footage confirms that a man in white shirt pulls at the horseman which made him lose balance. The metal structure on the side of the road gave him an open wound. You can check with the Dehradun SSP office and confirm the same facts.

Initially, your father denied being present, then he said he was there but he didn’t injure the horse? Why are there multiple versions of the story?

On the 15 March, ANI published: “This is an effort to spread misinformation and malign me. When the horse fell or when it was injured, I was nowhere near the horse. I even declared that I would reimburse all the medical expenses for the horse”. It was after he had moved back that someone from the crowd tried to pull the horseman and this is when the horseman lost control and the horse’s leg got stuck between the road and the piece of metal, injuring the horse. There are two videos shot from different angles. If you watch the videos being shown on the news channels and the one posted on his page, you’ll clearly spot the continuity. After he had retreated, someone from the side pulls the policeman on the horse and the horse retreats and gets hurt in the process.

Also read: BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi Denies Attack That Left Police Horse Injured

If you do claim that your father is being framed, what is the basis? Why would he be selectively attacked?

Isn’t it evident, had the ruling party accused the man who pulled the horseman they wouldn’t have received this kind of attention. The ruling party has completely diverted media’s attention from the real issues troubling the state. The entire purpose of a successful rally was defeated. Please go through the various animal rights organisations posts and the way they are targeting my father without any actual proof. It’s a witch hunt. Without any real evidence of my father hitting, beating or injuring the horse he has been hurled as the epitome of animal cruelty.