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A special action taken by my friends , Amit Chaudhery , Angad Walia and special help by Mr Karlekar and Mrs Gandhi. Please read.
A bustling dog fighting racket is flourishing in Haryana allegedly with the help of the local police.
A dog fighting incident was planned in the Badshahpur area in Gurgaon on 26 January. Although the planned fight was stopped with the intervention of activists and the local police, the market for the sale of dogs to be employed for these illegal fights continues to flourish.
President of the People for Animals (PFA) and BJP MP Maneka Gandhi says that the practice is rampant throughout Haryana. “Bully dogs are smuggled in illegally from Pakistan through Fatehabad and Hisar districts of Haryana. Illegal dog-fighting takes place in farmhouses throughout Haryana, which includes gambling. Local cops involved take money from the miscreants,” says Gandhi.
She says the Gurgaon police commissioner did not treat the issue with due seriousness when she approached him. “Although the incident did not take place, the menace of illegal betting on dog fights has not been taken up with due seriousness. The police commissioner of Gurgaon, K.K. Sindhu, initially did not seem interested in the matter at all. I will speak to the state home secretary about the matter.” Sindhu could not be reached for comments.
Amit Chaudhery, a member of PFA, says, “There are online ads promoting the sale of dogs for purposes of fighting in Gurgaon, Fatehabad and other places in Haryana. This proves that an illegal racket is still operating.” Some of the ads clearly promote the dogs for purposes of fighting, mentioning that the canines are “dangerous” and to be “used for fighting”.
“Dog fights leads to severe injuries and sometimes the death of the dogs. The dog, which was rescued by the PFA recently, had its ears chopped off,” he avers. “Dog-fights involving betting violate provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCPA, 1960) and Sections 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code. Bets of about Rs 21,000 (to several lakhs) are placed in a dog-fight.”
Amit Singh, the Gurgaon resident who was to organise a dog-fight on January 26, confessed in a video recorded by a member of PFA that he had bought the bully dog for Rs 21,000 and that he was looking at making money by organising a fight. This newspaper has a copy of the video.
During the course of his interrogations by the police and the local panchayat, Singh said that he had been driven to this trade by his brother who had seen an online ad promoting the sale of dogs.
DCP Gurgaon East Zone Maheshwar Dayal, when asked about the continuing sale of dogs for this purpose, explains, “The sale of dogs in itself is not an illegal activity. However, if you can point out any sale of dogs for fighting, we will take action against the persons concerned.”
About the incident planned on 26 January, Dayal says, “The police have stopped the incident and arrested the miscreant.”
Note: Mr Dayal’s interest in doing anything came only after media and other such pressure which is very tragic.
