The death of a six-year-old girl, Chhavi, due to rabies after a dog bite has sparked outrage in the Pooth Kalan area in Delhi's Rohini. The residents claim that the MCD officials began removing canines from the street only after the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the incident.
“Why did it take a child’s death and a Supreme Court order for anyone to care”, family of the six-year-old asked.
The Supreme Court on Monday highlighted the increasing cases of dog bite in Delhi that leads to rabies, impacting the vulnerable population, including children and the elderly.
“We take suo motu cognisance of this news item,” the court said, according to PTI news agency. The court ordered the register of the death of the girl as a public interest matter.
Six-year-old Chhavi Sharma, who was affectionately called ‘Bittu’ by her family, was bitten by a stray dog on June 30 while going to her aunt's house in the same area. According to the family, the dog attacked her without any provocation. The family found out about the bite when Chhavi came crying and bleeding to the aunt and collapsed on the doorstep.
“We washed her wounds and immediately took her to the Dr BR Ambedkar Hospital, where her anti-rabies treatment began,” the girl's aunt, Krishna Devi, told PTI.
{{/usCountry}}“We washed her wounds and immediately took her to the Dr BR Ambedkar Hospital, where her anti-rabies treatment began,” the girl's aunt, Krishna Devi, told PTI.
{{/usCountry}}Doctors administered her first vaccine dose and scheduled the remaining doses for July 3, 7 and 28. However, Chhavi’s condition worsened by mid-July when she started vomiting while in school on July 21.
That night, the six-year-old lost strength in her limbs and stopped speaking, after which the family took her to a private hospital where doctors suspected rabies. Just a few days before her final dose of the vaccine, Chhavi died on July 25.
Chhavi’s family alleged medical negligence from the first hospital, stating that despite the first visit, she could not even lift her hand by the second week. The family alleged that even when they kept going back, the hospital refused to pay attention. "Had they paid attention, maybe our daughter would have been alive today,” Krishna Devi said.
Chhavi, who lost her mother as a baby during the Covid-19 pandemic, was raised by her paternal uncle and aunt. She brought life into the home, her family said, “but after her death, now there is silence."
Stray dogs bit at least 4 people before
This was not the first incident of a dog bite. Pooth Kalan residents say that they have filed multiple complaints about the stray dogs in the area, but no one has paid any attention.
“The dog bit at least four to five people before her,” a relative said. Residents say that now that a child has lost her life, MCD has suddenly started removing dogs.
Locals say that the unregulated feeding of the stray dogs by outsiders worsens the issue. They say that these dogs become territorial and start chasing children.
Former Union Minister Vijay Goel welcomed the SC move and said that he will present facts and public grievances before the court. According to him, more than 2.000 dog bite cases are reported in Delhi every day.
Seeing the menace, MCD recently formed a subcommittee to set up shelter homes for these dogs in each city zone. The committee, chaired by Satya Sharma, will prepare an action plan to identify sites, estimate the budget and coordinate with NGOs to set up shelters.