A stray dog and its sympathizer, a former principal and dog lover of Rajkot, have their own tales of misery to tell after the plea on the dog’s plight got lost in translation at the police station.
And how did the police defend it’s turning a blind eye to the repeated entreaties to save the dog? They could not understand the application because it was written in English!
It all started with the lockdown-induced changes in her society and a cruel watchman. Padmavati Jain, former principal of a reputed college in the city, is a resident of Sanjay Vatika on the University Road. She said that an unused common plot of the society, which till then was home for stray dogs, suddenly found itself useful for residents’ recreational purposes on May 9. So, the first casualty was the strays who lost their home.
One little pup, however, didn’t read the notice put up by the residents banning entry for stray dogs. So it kept barging in, much to the watchman’s annoyance.
Jain filed a written complaint with university police requesting them to check cruelty against dogs. “I repeatedly asked the cops to send a PCR van to educate society members that cruelty to animals is an offense under the law. My lone voice in the society was falling on the deaf and defiant ears,” Jain told TOI. But her pleas fell on cops’ deaf ears too.
Jain heard its pitiful cries and went outside but couldn’t find the dog. She confronted Kamal, the watchman of Yash Kamal Apartment in the same society. “He told me about the notice and warned that he will continue to beat if the pup returned!” said Jain, who finally located the dog in an under-construction building nearby with an injured eye.
Jain took the dog to a veterinary doctor who confirmed that it had been blinded in one eye from the beating. “I again called the police inspector of the university police station, but it didn’t register an FIR. Thereafter I went to the police commissioner’s office but I wasn’t allowed to meet him. I WhatsApp pictures of the dog to the police commissioner, the police inspector, and also to Maneka Gandhi. After the MP intervened, police registered an FIR,” she added.
R S Thakkar, police inspector of university police station told “The application was submitted in English, and so, the staff here could not understand it. After she sent me pictures on WhatsApp and understanding the gravity of the offense committed, I immediately called Jain to register an FIR.”
Source: THE TIMES OF INDIA
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