MP intervenes to get FIR lodged on ‘poisoning’ of stray canine, pulls up cops for ignoring complainant

Deaths of two stray canine after one in every of them allegedly bit a baby in Prempura space of Hapur, in western UP, has grow to be a flashpoint, with the police accused of delaying registration of an FIR into the incident, and Lok Sabha MP and People for Animals founder Maneka Gandhi stating that the circle officer involved “should be suspended”, and that she’s going to “certainly follow this up”.
After repeated interventions from Maneka, the police lastly registered an FIR – The Indian Express has seen a replica – on March 26, 10 days after the incident. It was, nonetheless, lodged not on the criticism of animal rescuer and feeder Swati Garg, who first approached the police, however on the idea of one other particular person, whom Garg alleges might be hand in glove with the suspects.
On March 16, Garg, 23, stated a big crowd carrying sticks gathered outdoors her house and threatened to kill a stray canine, who they claimed had bitten the daughter of a resident. She introduced the canine in to avoid wasting its life.
She launched the animal the following day, however the state of affairs turned tense quickly. “Out of fear, my parents locked me indoors. From the window, I saw people feeding them (dogs) milk. I screamed for them to stop them, but no one intervened. All I could do was take a short video of it…. I had called the police for help – a team arrived but did nothing to help,” she claimed.
As the gang grew agitated, Garg referred to as a taxi and despatched the canine to a sanctuary in Greater Noida, however on the way in which, it vomited and began foaming on the mouth, she stated. It died quickly. Hours later, one other canine from the identical lane was rushed to a vet with related signs and died as properly.
A 3rd canine additionally took in poor health, however recovered.
Garg went to the police station the identical day, however stated no criticism was filed.
On March 26, the FIR was lastly lodged underneath IPC Section 429 (mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering ineffective, any elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox, no matter stands out as the worth thereof, of every other animal of the worth of fifty rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment or both description for a time period which can lengthen to 5 years, or with high-quality, or with each).
Garg stated, “The police refused to take my complaint. I ran from pillar to post, got the postmortem of both dogs done. I followed procedure. But they constantly tried to dissuade me…. One of them even said they can’t register an FIR because these were stray dogs, and not pet dogs. Last Tuesday, I went to the police station again, and they said the FIR was already lodged. When I finally got a copy, the complainant mentioned was someone else.”
While Garg had named an individual who she “witnessed” feeding milk to one of many canine that died, the FIR was lodged in opposition to “unknown persons”. As per the FIR, the complainant, recognized as Sonu Bansal, acknowledged: “There are three stray dogs in our locality who have bitten children. On April 16, some unknown person fed two dogs some toxic substance due to which they died…”
Bansal, additionally an area resident, advised The Indian Express: “Sab bekaar ki baatein hai; kuchh nahi hua wahan (it’s all rubbish; nothing happened there). These dogs would bite people and so I went to the chowki and informed the police. Someone might have fed them something.”
The rescuer stated that her repeated visits to the police station have been unsuccessful, and spoke of the harassment she confronted during the last two weeks. “A dog bite is a serious matter. But does that mean someone can poison and murder an animal for it,” she requested.
She claimed to have gotten all canine in her locality sterilised and vaccinated.
Chief Veterinary Officer Jitendra Gupta, who carried out the postmortems of each canine, stated: “The first dog died of hypovolemic shock (severe fluid loss), which could or could not be due to poisoning. The cause of death of the second dog was hepatotoxicity. The liver was damaged, which could have been caused by some sort of chemical poisoning. To further confirm the cause of death, I took samples of viscera, liver, kidney, stomach etc. As per procedure, the police seal these samples and send them for further forensic testing.”
Calling it a “very serious case”, Maneka Gandhi advised The Indian Express, “The local police, especially CO Vaibhav Pandey, have behaved disgracefully. There is clear evidence on film of a man feeding poisoned milk to the dogs. The police refused to accept Swati’s complaint and turn it into an FIR. Then they tried to scare her, saying they would file counter-FIRs for no reason, saying these dogs had bitten a child, which turned out to be false.”
Maneka stated, “They kept calling her to the police station and abusing her. The postmortem was done on my asking, (and) the CVO gave a report saying the dogs were poisoned. I talked to him myself. Police changed the report to show no poisoning and put the FIR in someone else’s name. The CO should be suspended and I am certainly going to follow this up. Till date, no one has been arrested.”
The MP stated this was additionally a matter of a lady rescuer being harassed.

Hapur SP Neeraj Kumar Jadaun stated, “Both parties met me and presented their sides. Swati Garg explained the situation, including death of the two dogs. Several other residents complained that there are many stray dogs in the area and many people and children have been bitten. We cannot take any information at face value and are in the process of collecting evidence, including the postmortem reports. The matter is being investigated and action will be taken against whoever poisoned the dogs.”
Asked why Garg’s criticism was not taken however Bansal’s was, Jadaun stated, “I will have to find out about that. But it doesn’t matter who filed the complaint. Investigation will be done.”

Hapur Nagar SHO Subodh Kumar Saxena stated: “After the FIR was registered, we got a complaint from around 15 residents, who said these dogs have bitten many people. The CVO has ruled out poisoning. When such an incident happens, should we prioritise humans or animals?”
He denied Garg’s allegations that the police staff that reached the spot on the day of the incident did nothing to guard her, have been non-cooperative, and tried to dissuade her from submitting a criticism.