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Synopsis

The Gurugram District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in an attempt to curb dog menace in the city, recently banned 11 pet dogs of foreign breeds and directed the Municipal Authority to cancel licenses in favour of the dog owners for keeping such breeds, with immediate effect. It further directed the authority to require that one family will keep only one dog.

The matter before the Forum was regarding a dog attack, where the Court took serious note of the injuries suffered by one Munni (the complainant), a resident of Gurugram, and granted her Rs. 2 lakhs as compensation to be paid by the authority. The authority, however, was at liberty to recover it from the dog owner.

While agreeing with the counsel for the complainant, the Gurugram District Forum noted, “There are 9.1 million street or stray cattle in India, out of which 62 million i.e. to say 6.2 crores are the street or stray dogs, and that besides it, approximately 1.2 crores are pet dogs, the count of which was going to increase up to 3.1 crores by the end of the year 2023, and thus, he contended that if we take a cumulative number of stray and pet dogs together then this number swells up to 9.1 crores, which means that virtually there is one dog against every 15 persons in India keeping in view the population of India as 135 crores".\

In this way, he contended that this country has virtually turned into a ‘Dogistan’ instead of ‘Hindustan’, with average of 77 lakh attacks of dogs per year throughout India, which results in about 20,000 death every year i.e. the number of deaths which are far far ahead of the killings caused even by the terrorist and the terrorist organization”. The Forum said that it fully agreed with the contentions.

“The colour photographs placed on the record of this file by the applicant/complainant depict the tell-tale of the gravity and seriousness of the multiple injuries suffered by the victim-complainant-Munni on her person due to the ferocious dog attack. Two color photographs placed on the record of this file, which were taken at the time of open head surgery of the complainant in Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, are so disturbing that they fill shivering in one’s spine and prove that out of the various multiple injuries suffered by the complainant-victim on her person, the injury suffered by her on the rear part of her head was even life-threatening”, the Forum noted.

The complaint stated the applicant was bitten by a ferocious dog namely Pitbull (which later on was ascertained as Dogo Argentino), in the posh area of Civil lines, Gurugram. It was further alleged that due to the attack, she suffered multiple deep wounds and injuries on different parts of her body including the rear part of her head. After falling on the ground, the complainant started bleeding profusely but she was saved and taken to the hospital by a passerby. After receiving protracted medical treatment and several visits at Safdarjung Hospital she could come back to routine life, it was further alleged. Accordingly, for all the expenses and agony, she demanded Rs. 10 lakhs as compensation.

The opposite parties (the dog owner and the Municipal Authority), however, had pleaded that the complainant was not its consumer and that the Court had no jurisdiction to try and entertain the present complaint preferred by the complainant.

To that, the Forum opined, “The Municipal committee certainly cannot abdicate its statutory duties on the plea that this Court of law has no jurisdiction to try and entertain the matter against it”

The Forum passed certain other directions regarding pet dogs that the Municipal Authority has to ensure compliance of, that are:

- to make the registration of the pet dogs compulsory, within one month, with a few not less than Rs 12000 per year, and a renewal fee of not less than Rs 10000 per year.

-to require that every registered dog shall wear a collar to which shall be attached a metal token coupled with metal chain.

-to require that one family will keep only one dog.

-to require that a dog’s mouth is properly covered with a net cap, in public places.

-dog owners to take shitbag and dog shit plucker during walks.

-for any violation, to impose an amount not less than Rs 20000 that may extend Rs 2 Lakh.

Case Title: Munni vs Neetu Chikara and others