70-Year-Old Woman Attacked By Pitbull Dog In Haridwar, Gets Seriously Injured

Haridwar: A 70-year-old woman in Haridwar district was seriously injured on Sunday after being attacked by a pitbull dog, police said.

A doctor said the woman was bleeding profusely when she was brought to the Roorkee Civil Hospital from where she was referred to AIIMS, Rishikesh, considering her serious condition, PTI reported.

There are wound marks all over the woman's body, said Dr Vandana at the Civil Hospital.

The elderly woman's son has filed a complaint against the owner of the dog at the Civil Lines police station.

The woman, a resident of Dhandera, was going to see someone in the neighbourhood when she was attacked by the pit bull, Roorkee Civil Lines police station in-charge R K Saklani said.

The police are registering a case based on the complaint, he said.

Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has said the State shall be "primarily responsible" to pay compensation in cases of attacks by stray animals such as dogs and cattle.

In dog bite cases, it has been said, the assistance shall be a minimum of ₹ 10,000 "per teeth mark" and a minimum of ₹ 20,000 per 0.2 cm of wound where the flesh has come off.

The court was hearing a bunch of 193 petitions relating to attacks by stray animals and the huge debate in the country on the stray dog menace. The death of 49-year-old Parag Desai, executive director of Wagh Bakri Tea Group, in October, sparked off a fresh round in the debate. A hospital statement had said that the industrialist businessman Parag Desai died of a haemorrhage suffered in a fall after stray dogs chased him while he was on a morning walk near his home in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

In recent times, several incidents of delivery personnel and little children being bitten by, or chased by, and also mauled in some cases by strays or any breed of ferocious dogs have come to light. Numerous fights have been reported to have taken place between dog owners (pet parents) and residents of the housing society over the usage of lift spaces when people petrified of dogs have refused to travel in closed spaces with the canines.

Soon after the Ahmedabad tragic incident, a section of social media users demanded urgent steps to tackle the stray dog problem, pointing to multiple cases of deaths and injuries, including to children, in animal attacks. Growing public anger over such cases has also led to incidents of animal cruelty.

"The State shall be primarily responsible to pay compensation with a right to recover the same from the defaulting Agencies/ Instrumentalities of the State and/or the private person, if any," the High Court said in its order on a petition seeking compensation in a dog bite case.

The High Court also asked Punjab, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh to form a committee that will decide on compensation to be paid in cases of accidents caused or attacks by stray animals. These include animals such as cows, bulls, oxen, donkeys, dogs, nilgai, buffaloes, and wild, pet and deserted animals.

“The award shall be passed by the committees within a period of four months of the claims being filed before it along with requisite documents…The State shall be primarily responsible to pay compensation with a right to recover the same from the defaulting agencies/ instrumentalities of the State or the private person, if any,” a bench of Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj said.

"The said Committee shall be comprised of Deputy Commissioner of the concerned District as its Chairperson and shall have the following member (a) Superintendent of Police/Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic), (b) Sub Divisional Magistrate of the concerned area, (c) The District Transport Officer, (d) Representative of the Chief Medical Officer," the judgment said.

The bench directed that the copies of the judgment be sent to the offices of the principal secretary (Home) as well as the Directors General of Police of Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh for necessary and prompt action and compliance.

Issuing guidelines to be followed by the police on receipt of a complaint about any incident or accident reported due to the involvement of animals (stray/wild/pet or deserted), Justice Bhardwaj ordered: “On receipt of information regarding accident due to stray/wild animal, the station house officer (SHO) shall get a DDR (daily diary report) recorded without any undue delay. The police officer shall verify the claim made, record the statements of witnesses, and prepare the site plan and summary. A copy of the report is to be forwarded to the claimant”.

In India, Goa and Lakshwadweep are the only two territories that are rabies free. In Goa, after 43 human rabies deaths between 2012 and 2017, the state's strict anti-rabies effort has helped the state eliminate the dangerous viral disease. In Lakshadweep, most islands have no dogs (the vector for the rabies virus) or snakes on them. Kavaratti doesn’t even have crows, the islanders say.