Court orders fresh probe into missing dogs outside Delhi airport

A Delhi court has ordered a fresh investigation into two missing dogs from IGI Airport, criticizing police inaction and inadequate reports.

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has directed the Delhi Police joint commissioner to conduct a fresh investigation regarding the whereabouts of two dogs missing from outside the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport since a month, observing that no steps have been taken to trace the canines.

Photo for representation (Hindustan Times)

The order was passed by additional chief judicial magistrate Pranav Joshi of Patiala House courts on April 29.

The court noted that the police reports filed in the matter were “inadequate” and reflected a non-application of mind “to get to the root of the matter”.

A dog feeder and the complainant in this case, Rashmi Sharma had filed a complaint last month, claiming that the two community dogs had gone missing.

As per the complaint, the dogs were forcibly relocated on April 2 by the airport staff members, a video of the incident also surfaced on social media. The complaint also claimed that no information was received regarding the two canines despite repeated pleas before the IGI airport police station.

The court said, “It has been more than one and half month since the dogs were relocated from their usual feeding area and the police has shown no interest to gather information whether the dogs are alive and their place of relocation.”

The bench further said that the police has not bothered to name the officials from DIAL who were examined while enquiring about the missing dogs, showing an “apathy” towards the matter.

The court said that the incident, which occurred at Terminal 1 — was circulated widely on social media and the videos showed a dog being captured inhumanely and thereafter being relocated from airport premises.

Both the incidents, the court noted, suggested the ground staff being involved in forceful shifting of dogs without any direction from airport authorities.

The court also noted that although CCTV footage showed a person luring a dog into a vehicle, no certain outcome could be drawn, on who directed the staff to carry out the exercise.

The court observed that in view of the gravity of the situation and the dogs being missing for such a long period, a comprehensive inquiry was imperative.

The court has set the next day of hearing for May 11 when police will update it on the status of the probe.