Meghalaya 'monkey eater' held after photos in Facebook

A man in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district, who recently killed, burnt and cooked a monkey for consumption and put its photos in Facebook, was arrested on Sunday.

The accused, Sengkud Sangma was arrested based on an FIR lodged by the animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The case was registered against Sangma under Sections 9 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, a non-bailable offence and is punishable up to seven years in prison and a fine of at least Rs 10,000.

The Peta had lodged the FIR after seeing photos uploaded in Sangma's Facebook account, which showed the body of the rhesus macaque monkey mercilessly killed, burnt, cooked and two others consuming its meat.

"Based on our complaint, the deputy commissioner ordered the Superintendent of Police and the divisional forest officer of West Garo Hills district to form a joint team to investigate the matter and arrest Sangma. He was arrested on Sunday and will be produced in a court," Peta India's Lead Emergency Response Co-ordinator, Meet Ashar said, in a statement on Monday.

"We commend the Superintendent of Police, the Deputy Commissioner, and the divisional forest officer for sending out a strong message that such cruelty will not be tolerated. This incident is exactly why laws exist to protect wild animals from being hunted or poached, and it's imperative that humans heed these laws," Ashar said.

The statement said research found that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals are often repeated-offenders who move on to hurting other animals or humans. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has found that a history of animal abuse is one of the traits that regularly appears in the records of serial rapists and murderers, it added.