New Delhi:

An elderly couple in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar left their dog in charge of a Noida-based pet boarding before travelling to Vadodara to meet their son. Little did they know that it was the last time they would see their pet. The dog, Milo, is dead and a chilling video showing two bike-borne dragging him by the leash will forever haunt the family.

Nivedita Ghosh has filed a police complaint against Swati Sharma, who runs the pet boarding Paw’s Point, accusing her of negligence. The Ghosh family says that a day before they returned to Delhi, Ms Sharma called and offered a complimentary grooming session for Milo. Ms Ghosh agreed. The next day, after they returned, they received another call from Ms Sharma. She said the dog ran away while being taken back to the pet boarding after grooming.

The family reached the location in Noida’s Sector 119 where Milo went missing and started searching. When they could not locate him, they filed a police complaint. An FIR was registered against Ms Sharma under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. When local residents were questioned and CCTV footage from the vicinity was found, a chilling video came to light. It showed two persons on a bike dragging Milo by the leash. The family has alleged one of them is a staff of the pet boarding. They have said Milo was made to run beside the bike. At some point, the dog broke free and ran away. He was found dead the next day, presumably due to a road accident.

The family is devastated and has accused the pet boarding of negligence that led to Milo’s death.

“This has crushed us as a family. Milo was beaten up, and dragged by the leash on a busy road while two men were riding the bike. We just cannot come to terms with what happened. We are shattered and completely broken. We left him in their charge, trusting them to keep him safe and we found him dead. Paw’s Point charges Rs 600 for a day and this is the way they take care of our loved pets. They are saying Milo jumped out of a car. How can a dog do that? There was no car, he was being dragged with the bike. His leash was handed over to us as a token,” Ms Ghosh told NDTV. She also said the family kept asking Ms Sharma to show CCTV footage of the pet boarding when Milo was there, but she refused.

Pictures of Milo have been circulated on social media, with many pet parents and animal welfare organisations demanding strict punishment against the pet boarding. 

When NDTV contacted Swati Sharma, who runs Paw’s Point, she denied that the two persons on the bike seen dragging the dog by the leash were pet boarding staff. “I was driving the dog back after grooming. I forgot to child-lock the car and the dog rolled down the windows and jumped. I knew those two persons and asked them to catch him. They did. Yes, one of them beat it up, but what could he do if the dog was aggressive? Then the dog escaped. We were with the family when they looked for it. It was I who informed them when we found the body. People have already declared that we murdered the dog. I haven’t even charged them for the 17-day stay,” she said.

New Delhi:

Legendary Indian cricketer Kapil Dev and his wife have approached the Delhi High Court challenging certain provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that allow destruction of stray dogs in lethal chambers and extermination or destruction of any animal under the authority of any law.

The petition came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula which granted time to the petitioners’ counsel to place certain judgments on record.

The high court listed the petition for further hearing on October 13.

Petitioners Kapil Dev, his wife Romi Dev and animal rights activist Anjali Gopalan, said the petition was being filed on account of repeated instances of barbaric treatment meted out to animals showing the “most brutal and cruel face of humanity” and the “utter effete” response of law and the law enforcing agencies.

The plea challenged section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, saying it was without deterrence and manifestly arbitrary since it trivialises life and denies animals any meaningful existence by treating their mutilation and killing as petty and frivolous acts, mocking their death through imposition of punishment of less than Rs 10.

Section 11 deals with treating animals cruelly and entails a fine which shall not be less than Rs 10 but may extend to Rs 50 in case of first offence. For the second or subsequent offence committed within three years of the previous offence, the punishment involves fine which shall not be less than Rs 25 but may extend to Rs 100 or with imprisonment for a term of maximum of three months or both.

“Section 11 is further unfair and unreasonable in so far as the exception under PCA Act which permits cruelty to animals for the purposes mentioned in Section 11(3) (b) (destruction of stray dogs in lethal chambers), Section 11(3) (c) (extermination or destruction of any animal under the authority of any law for the time being in force) …,” the plea said.

It has also challenged sections 428 (Mischief by killing or maiming animal of the value of ten rupees) and 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc., of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees) of the Indian Penal Code claiming that it is an instance of speciesism suggesting lack of moral worth or value in animals.

“The said sections of the IPC are further unfair, unreasonable and arbitrary as the same allow for treating animals as property and morally less important than humans, and since the same have an inbuilt attitude of prejudice and therefore creates an arbitrary classification thus being hit by unreasonableness,” the plea contended.

The provisions of IPC remain unavailable for protection of rights of animals against grave offences such as maiming or killing, especially when such a valuation is not possible, and in cases where the animal is a street animal and not a pet or where the animal is handicapped or has been rendered unprofitable due to old age, the plea said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)