Gurugram: Stray dogs beaten up at Uppal Southend; RWA registers complaint
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Gurugram: Stray dogs beaten up at Uppal Southend; RWA registers complaint

Animal welfare staff and RWA are at odds over the issue as the activists say that the incident happened at RWA’s behest, which denies allegation.

Gurugram: Stray dogs beaten up at Uppal Southend; RWA registers complaint

The residents welfare association (RWA) of Uppal Southend, a gated society in Gurugram’s Sector 50, filed a police complaint on Wednesday saying that several stray dogs have gone missing from the society after some outsiders entered the area and allegedly beat up the dogs.

According to CCTV footage taken from society premises, about 10 stray dogs were beaten with sticks, captured and taken away in sacks by unidentified men. The footage shows that the incident happened on April 1.

After the incident, several animal rights activists suspected foul play and alleged that society’s security guards and RWA were involved in the incident. They even alleged that the dogs might have been beaten to death. No body has been found as yet.

Speaking to City Spidey on the incident, Ramesh Bhardwaj, president of the society’s RWA, said that all these allegations are false. “How can the RWA be involved in all this? In fact, we are the one who have filed the police complaint. This is a clear case of security lapse as some unidentified men had entered the society. In the video, it is not clear if they are beating the dogs or catching them.”

Meanwhile, the police has asked the residents and RWA to share details of missing dogs which will help trace them.

According to a report published in TOI, the matter came to light when a resident informed the People for Animals, a non-government organisation, after which the RWA received a call from the office of the outfit's chairperson, Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi.

Umeed For Animals volunteer Meenakshi Rajagopalan said that in the CCTV footage men wielding sticks and trying to capture an 11-year-old dog can be seen. “We are going to lodge a separate complaint soon since several laws against cruelty to animals have been violated,” she said.

Meanwhile, Bhardwaj said that stray dog menace had become a huge problem for the residents of the society. “Recently, there had been several dog bite cases with children and maids. But we had nothing to do with this,” he added.

“The problem is so big that our kids and elderly fear going out of the houses. We had approached Corporation and NGO on the issue. But all they do is sterilization and vaccination, which is not a solution to dog bites,” said a resident on the condition of anonymity.

Bhardwaj added that in future they plan to hold counselling session for their residents where dog lovers in the society can sensitize other residents on how the situation can be resolved.