In a bizarre incident, a man in the national capital went on a rampage, hitting people with an iron rod after his neighbour's pet dog barked at him, the police said on Monday.
The incident occurred in the Paschim Vihar area on Sunday morning. Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer) Sameer Sharma said a PCR call regarding the quarrel was received on Sunday morning at the Paschim Vihar East police station.
"During enquiry it was found that one person namely Dharamvir Dahiya was strolling in the street in the morning. Then one pet dog owned by a resident of A block Paschim Vihar started barking. At that, Dahiya picked the dog up with its tail and threw the dog away," the DCP said.
When the owner of the dog, Rakshit (25), saw this, he immediately intervened which led to a minor scuffle between him and Dahiya. During this scuffle, the dog also bit Dahiya.
"After some time Dharamvir Dahiya came back at the spot with an iron pipe and brutally hit the dog on its head," the DCP said.
As per the CCTV footage of the incident, accessed by IANS, a 53-year-old neighbour named Hemant tried to save the dog, however, Dahiya also struck him down with the iron rod.
The dog in the video could be seen lying unconscious for sometime after he received a severe blow on his head. In a minute, the canine woke up, however, could be seen running helter and skelter, writhing in pain with concussion.
Even after this, the accused didn't stop.
"Later on Dharamvir barged into the house of pet owner Rakshit to take back the pipe used in the assault and in the process hit a 45-year-old woman named Renu alias Yashoda," DCP Sharma said.
Accordingly, the police registered an FIR under sections 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint) and 451 (House-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code read with section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
The official said that all the injured were medically examined and the probe of the incident is underway.
Since the video of the incident went viral on social media, animal lovers are demanding punitive action against the offender.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960 is one of the most comprehensive laws on the subject of animal welfare in India.
According to Animal Protection Index 2020, India is one of the best performing countries in the whole world. The index ranks countries from A (being the highest score) to G (being the weakest score) according to their policy and legislation.
India attained a C ranking in 2020 in the index.
