A weekly public hearing at the Khandwa Collectorate in Madhya Pradesh took a turn nobody saw coming on Tuesday when a man walked in wearing a full dog costume and mask. He was not lost. He was making a point.
The man was brought to the Jan Sunwai, or public grievance hearing, by Deepak Mullu Rathore, the Leader of Opposition in the Khandwa Municipal Corporation. The message was deliberate and theatrical: after four years and roughly Rs 40 lakh spent on stray dog sterilisation, the city’s stray dog problem is worse than ever, and Rathore wanted the administration to explain why.
The Numbers Behind the Stunt
Rathore’s complaint was not just symbolic. He came armed with figures. According to his submissions, the Khandwa Municipal Corporation has spent approximately Rs 40 lakh on stray dog sterilisation over the past four years. In that same period, the city recorded 13,225 dog-bite cases. The stray population, rather than declining, has continued to grow.
To illustrate just how farcical the situation has become, Rathore told officials that the man in the dog mask was playing the role of a dog who had supposedly been sterilised through the programme but later fathered six puppies.
It was absurdist, but the underlying accusation was direct: either the sterilisations are not happening as claimed, or the records are being falsified, or both.
Rathore formally demanded an inquiry into the funds spent, the tendering process, and the actual number of dogs sterilised.
#WATCH | Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh | Khandwa Municipal Corporation LoP Mullu Rathore held a unique symbolic protest to highlight the stray dog menace in the city
(18.08) pic.twitter.com/Bvlc7nt6XO
— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2026
Getting In the Door Was Its Own Drama
The protest did not go entirely smoothly even before it reached officials. A police officer stationed at the Collectorate entrance tried to stop the costumed man from entering, which led to a brief standoff at the door. Officials inside eventually stepped in and instructed the police to let them through.
Once inside, the masked man submitted a formal complaint alongside Rathore, and the stunt had its intended effect. Videos and photographs spread rapidly across social media, drawing attention to what had previously been a local civic grievance.
Officials Respond
Additional Collector Kashiram Badole confirmed to reporters that people had arrived at the hearing wearing dog masks and submitted applications alleging misappropriation of sterilisation funds. He said the Civic Commissioner had been contacted about the matter, and that a committee would be constituted to investigate the allegations and establish the facts.
That response, a promise to form an inquiry committee, is exactly what Rathore was pushing for. Whether it leads to anything will depend on what the committee actually finds.
A City Waiting for Answers
Khandwa is not alone in this situation. Stray dog sterilisation programmes across India have repeatedly faced allegations of poor implementation, inflated numbers, and funds that vanish without a visible reduction in the stray population.
The Supreme Court has pushed civic bodies to take the issue seriously, and cities like Chandigarh have begun putting formal shelter and sterilisation infrastructure in place under judicial pressure.
In Khandwa, it took a man in a dog suit to get the administration to even agree to look into it. The crowd that gathered to watch the demonstration at least suggests the city has been paying attention.
August 19, 2026
