BENGALURU: Two women have approached the Ulsoor police saying they were attacked by a group overfeeding of stray dogs. Sujatha, a resident of Gupta Layout, and advocate Geetha Mishra of Rajainagar have filed a police complaint against three women and two men for assaulting them on March 6.
The complainants said Sujatha was first attacked by some women who said that her habit of feeding strays put them in danger of attacks by the animals. When her friend, Geetha, who tried to help her file a police complaint, went to drop her back home, they again attacked Sujatha. When Geetha tried to make a video of the assault, she too was allegedly beaten up.
Sujatha, who lives with her mother, has been feeding stray dogs since 2014. Last year, the residents started opposing her practice, saying the animals had attacked children. The situation turned ugly when a domestic help, Latha, claimed that the dogs chased her and she fell, due to which she lost two teeth. She and her friends, allegedly abused Sujatha, and demanded Rs 5,000 as compensation, which Sujatha refused to pay. On March 6, the residents approached Ulsoor police and contacted BBMP to take away the dogs. BBMP officials visited the spot, and found that all the dogs had been sterilised, and so they refused to take them.
On the same day, Sujatha spotted Latha’s husband and his friends hitting some dogs with chains and stones. When she objected, she too was beaten up with the chain, she said. “Latha, along with her two female friends, abused and assaulted me. So with a few animal lovers and Geetha Mishra, I went to file a police complaint. They refused to register an FIR,” Sujatha said. The cops reportedly told them that the issue would just lead to complaints and counter-complaints, and assured them that they would not be attacked again.
“When we went to drop Sujatha to her house, we saw that the dogs were friendly. We were taking photos of the dogs when three women and two men came and attacked Sujatha. One of us called the police and escaped. We then went to the police station and filed a complaint,” said Geetha. According to Sujatha, the assaulters live in MV Garden, and not Gupta Layout. She said she is being targeted for different reasons by the residents. She added that her complaint was registered only after she approached the DCP.