Vandana Mahar, an animal activist and feeder, was taken aback when a BMC van accompanied by police personnel from DN Nagar police station arrived at a government land plot along the Juhu-Versova link road on Tuesday morning to pick up the healthy and sterilised dogs present on the plot. Mahar has been feeding approximately 45 dogs regularly on the government land plot.
The locals alerted Mahar about BMC officers trying to pick up the dogs. She immediately rushed to the plot and confronted the officials.
Mahar immediately expressed her concerns to the K West ward officials, highlighting the Supreme Court's explicit instructions regarding the relocation of dogs. According to the Supreme Court's directives, dogs that have been sterilised should not be relocated. However, the civic officials chose not to consider her pleas.
Cops help BMC officials capture the dogs
"Despite my persistent pleas, I urged both the municipal officers and the accompanying police personnel to release the three apprehended dogs, emphasising that relocating sterilised canines contradicts the Supreme Court's mandate. Regrettably, my reasoning fell on deaf ears as they adamantly refused to heed my appeals. To make matters worse, the police prevented me from capturing the dog-catching procedure on video and subsequently confiscated my mobile device," Mahar recounted.
Activist's spouse detained for protesting
She revealed that her spouse was similarly detained when attempting to document the distressing incident. They were held at the police station for an approximate duration of two hours for obstructing municipal operations.
Mahar was able to locate the three dogs at the IDA Centre at Deonar on Wednesday. She safely returned them to their original location on the Juhu-Versova link road.
K West assistant municipal commissioner, Prithviraj Chauhan could not be reached for a statement.
