‘Beaten, harassed, threatened’: Dog feeders in Delhi-NCR face violent attacks amid SC order confusion

Dog feeders in Delhi face increasing violence following a Supreme Court ruling, causing injuries and fear as vigilante actions escalate against them.

A spate of violent attacks is targeting dog feeders across Delhi and the national capital region (NCR), which the feeders said have left them injured and traumatised following the recent Supreme Court order on stray dogs that has sparked confusion among the public and escalated vigilante action.

A still from a video shows moments before a dog feeder is attacked. (HT Photo)

Prashanto Samanpa, 29, a dog feeder by profession, has got severe back injuries after a resident last week beat him with a wooden stick in Gurugram’s Sector 28. Video of the incident was also shared widely on social media, showing Samanpa with buckets — probably carrying food for dogs — on a two-wheeler. While he was talking on phone, a resident is seen attacking him with a stick.

“I was beaten really hard on my back, and the doctor said that I have gotten a bone injury. I have been lying like this for the past two days. The injury and the fear I have in my mind has taken away all the energy from my body,” he said, adding that the attacker also threatened to kill him for feeding the dogs in the area.

The Gurgaon Police did not respond to HT’s request for a comment on the incident.

Since the top court revised the previous ruling and it was ordered that dogs can be fed in public, but at designated feeding spots, many residents have objected to open feeding of stray dogs, citing violation of law.

However, animal activists state that the fault lies within the ruling.

“There is confusion between the first and the second pronouncements. Then, there are also two parts in the second ruling. The first part says that you cannot feed dogs in public places, and the second part says that you can only feed them where there are boards for feeding. So, legally you can feed anywhere until the boards are put up,” said Maneka Gandhi, politician and animal rights activist.

Meanwhile, Neeti Khattar from Paschim Vihar faced an attack on Wednesday night. In one video, a man can be seen punching her face, and in another, she is seen with the top of her shirt covered in blood. “He hit me and my husband in the face really hard. He had a metal rink or a bangle on and he threatened us. I have faced a lot of verbal insults for feeding dogs, but this is the worst that has ever happened to me. The physical pain and mental trauma is unlike anything else. Now I am scared that this person can harm my family in future,” she said.

Pankhuri Sharma, 28, from Laxmi Nagar stated that she was harassed by a police inspector, whom she had confronted after she saw him attacking a dog. She said the inspector told him that a dog had bit his son.

“I was concerned and so reassured the policeman that I would call an NGO to take the dog away. However, he started yelling at me when people from the NGO came. He also threatened me and abused the NGO people. The next morning, he and another person tried to hit me, but I got inside my car and drove away to escape. I was only trying to help both the sides,” she said.

Deputy commissioner of police, east Delhi, Abhishek Dhania dismissed the allegations. “There was a dog who had bit a child, and some force may have been used in trying to save the child. The rest is a made up story, and as per the enquiries conducted, nothing like that happened.”

Divya Nayak from Faridabad’s Sector 86 said that she has been facing harassment over dog feeding for the past three years, the situation has only worsened since the SC’s ruling. “People have surrounded me with sticks when I’m feeding the dogs, the Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA) members have surrounded my house, the plants from my balcony have been stolen, and after the ruling, I am constantly being filmed,” she said. Nayak said she has also been fined by the RWA for feeding dogs in the society.

Though she has approached the police multiple times, she submitted a complaint on August 31, detailing incidents from across the past three years. “The police will go through the report, and if any permissible offence is found, then they will carry out an investigation,” said a representative of the Faridabad police.

In Noida’s Sector 76, Aditi Shrivastava recalled an incident from August 19, where she and her mother were feeding a dog next to a construction site at around 7.30pm. “Two men came and started shouting at us and threatening us. They called other people, who were also getting extremely aggressive. We started walking home because I realised that there was no point in arguing, but they started blocking our path,” she said.

Maneka Gandhi said the confusion in the SC order will continue if the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) does not speed up the work. “The municipality and the Delhi government have to speed up work, because the longer they take, the more this confusion will continue. I have told the commissioner of police that if this is not stopped, incidents like the one in Paschim Vihar will occur everyday.”

The MCD had previously said they will identify and put boards at designated feeding spots within a month. “Work on this has already begun. We have asked the inspectors to identify these areas in the localities in their zones and report to the committee as soon as possible,” a member of the MCD sub-committee said last week.

Despite the attacks, multiple feeders said that they will continue feeding the dogs. “A 110% I will continue feeding them. If this attack was done to make me stop, then I will see it as a challenge. To stop would be to betray all the others who are experiencing the same,” Khattar said.