Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A woman mowed down a puppy under her car at Shaheed Nagar two days back but the Koh-e-Fiza police are still to register an FIR in the matter despite the complainant Sunita Joshi pursuing the case rigorously. A man crushed a dog under his car at Ashoka Garden in April but police questioned the accused only after its owner staged a protest outside the police station.
It is worth mentioning that around a dozen cases of cruelty to animals have been registered at different police stations of Bhopal since January. Most cases pertained to torturing of stray dogs or mowing them down under vehicles but cops were unresponsive and reluctant to take action, much to the dismay of animal rights activists.
Though the newly implemented Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) includes a wider range of actions for cruelty to animals under Section 325, the cops remain apathetic, as per a lawyer and animal rights activist Anu Soni.
In the past few years, Anu herself registered 15 cases at different police stations in which dogs and other animals were tortured or killed by individuals. In some cases, people deliberately tortured and killed dogs for fun while in other cases, they mowed them down under their vehicles, complained Anu.
“In most cases, cops were initially indifferent to killing of the dogs. In some instances they even suggested not to pursue the case as there was more important work to do rather than take action against people who killed dogs,” Anu shared.
Out of 15 cases of cruelty to animals that Anu got registered, police filed a charge sheet in only one case while the rest went to the back burner. In one such case where youths threw a dog in the Upper Lake for fun, police only slapped the culprits and released them, she recalled.
Additional DCP Shailendra Singh Chauhan said police had taken action in many such cases based on reports received by veterinary doctors, CCTV camera footage and other available evidence.
