AWBI asks police, collector to probe dog bite cases, submit report

Nagpur: The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has directed the city police, collector and AWBI’s member secretary in Maharashtra to investigate dog bite cases and prepare a rapid action plan to sterilize and vaccinate the stray dog population.
Responding to a complaint filed by animal activist Ankita Shah, who quoted a TOI report (August 2), AWBI secretary SK Dutta asked all of them to strictly implement the animal birth control (ABC) rules, 2001, for controlling the dog population and ensuring sterilization.
In a letter to DCP Zone-I, collector and its own Pune-based member secretary, Dutta requested them to conduct an inquiry on Shah’s complaint and submit an action taken report to the board immediately for necessary action.
The AWBI clarified that cruelty to animals is an offence under Sections 3 and 11(1) of the ‘Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960’ and violation of Section 429 of IPC, 1860.
“As per the Indian laws, stray animals cannot be displaced and relocated to shelters or beaten or driven away. They can merely be sterilized in the manner envisaged in the ABC (dogs) rules, 2001. They should be vaccinated and returned to their original locations from where they were picked. The rationale behind it is dogs being territorial in nature, tend to fight off other canines and prevent them from entering their zones. In this manner, their population in each territory stabilizes and then reduces,” the AWBI, working under the Union ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, said.
There is no mention of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) anywhere in the AWBI communication. Shah, also a lawyer, however, explained that the collector remains chairman for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) for the entire district and can ask NMC for necessary action in this regard.
Shah had lodged a complaint praying for restraining the police from issuing any order to destroy dogs as mentioned in section 44 of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951. TOI had highlighted this section while quoting noted lawyer Firdos Mirza, who is fighting a PIL against the street dog menace since 2006, where he said that the citizens can lodge a police complaint, if they or their kin were attacked by strays.