Two men accused of strangling and killing an  Indie dog

Case filed; post-mortem reveals dog had been beaten up badly
Body of the dog found near Dommasandra Road
Body of the dog found near Dommasandra Road

BENGALURU: On May 26, Shobha L (name changed) was having a usual Friday afternoon. She had been to her children’s school to pick them up but, while returning, she claims she saw a gruesome sight. In a desolate lane of Dommasandra Road, she says, she saw two men hanging a brown-coloured Indie dog to its death. “They were holding a long iron rod with a metal hoop at one end, which was being used to noose the dog’s neck. They were holding up the rod so that the dog was choking mid-air.”

Shobha took a U-turn to rescue the dog but she says it was too late. “The dog was lying dead and the two men were ready to leave the spot,” she says, adding horrified, “They were shaking hands and one of the two took off on his bike while the other took a while to get into his car... I screamed and shouted at this man and asked him why he had killed the dog. The man simply held up his middle finger.”
The four children in Shobha’s car were crying and she did not want to scare them any further. However, being an activist and a member of Give India for Voiceless (GIFV), she went to inspect the dog, its tongue was out. She asked the man again what he had done.

“He walked towards me with the rod in his hand and called me a moron. He then said that it was a hit and run case,” Shobha adds. She called the Varthur police, who inspected the site and she was told that the location was under the jurisdiction of Sarjapur police station. An FIR was filed with the help of an NGO, Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), under animal welfare law, Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.

“On Saturday a postmortem was conducted and the doctor said that the case was of strangulation and beating,” says Harish K B, CUPA cruelty inspector authorised by Animal Welfare Board of India.
However,the postmortem report has not been made public yet. The medical officer in charge says that the dog was found to have a severe head injury and a blood clot. “Rectum injury was identified as well and the left leg was damaged. It looked like the dog was beaten up badly,” says the doctor. However, he did not comment on the strangulation.

 “We have heard of dogs going missing and haven’t been able to find it. We at CUPA will investigate and find if there is such a business of killing stray dogs in this manner,” says Shilpa Mahbubani, a CUPA volunteer. Shobha says her regret is not reaching the spot five minutes earlier. “I could have saved the dog,” she sighs.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com