New Delhi: Delhi High Court is likely to hear this week a plea seeking a ban on ferocious dogs, filed by the father of a six-year-old fighting for his life in a govt hospital after being mauled by a pit bull dog last month.The plea also seeks a minimum compensation of Rs 25 lakh from authorities for their negligence in allowing such a dangerous canine to roam free despite earlier complaints and free treatment for the victim.Seeking the court’s intervention, the petitioner says he is “in grave grief, pain and suffering as he is compelled to see his innocent minor child aged about six years lying and crying in Safdarjung Hospital with pain, trauma and terror for no fault of his but only because of the total inaction and delinquency in duty on the part of the respondents”.Soon after the attack by the dog, the child was rushed to Rohini’s Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, from where he was referred to Safdarjung Hospital and has undergone multiple surgeries. According to the petition, “As per the doctors, many more surgeries are still to be done and the child has become vulnerable to infectious diseases like rabies due to dog bites and, thus, struggling for life whereas he already became permanently disabled because his amputated ear, being badly mutilated, is not in a position to be restored or refixed, even by surgery.”Alleging negligence, it states this was not the first such incident “by the same pit bull but the said dog attacked and bit a number of people, particularly children, as also various stray animals, including dogs and cows, and it is reported that some dogs and cows even died because of biting by the said pit bull”. It adds that despite repeated complaints, local police, agencies and even its owner have not taken any action to prevent such incidents.Pressing for strict action, the plea claims agencies have failed to take steps to curb the menace of “dog bite incidents, particularly by domesticated ferocious dogs” while seeking compensation for “the mental and emotional pain and agony caused to them and physical injuries and disability as well as mental trauma and terror to the child”.
