A two-year-old girl sustained serious injuries after being attacked by a stray dog in Maharashtra' Thane district.
The incident occurred on Friday evening and was captured on a CCTV camera. Veda Vikas Kajare was walking in an alley with another girl, when a stray dog came from behind and attacked her. The child fell down and the dog continued to attack her.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Rohidas Munde said that the number of dogs in the area where the girl was attacked has spiralled out of control despite repeated complaints. "If the Thane Municipal Corporation does not take immediate action to capture the stray dogs, then we will collect all dogs in the area and release them in the civic body's office," he warned.
The incident comes on a day an elderly couple from Delhi filed a plea in the Supreme Court, citing the civic body's inaction on complaints of a dog having bitten at least six people.
The top court on Friday, citing an "alarming rise" in dog bite incidents in institutional areas such as educational centres, hospitals, bus stands and railway stations, had ordered that such canines be moved to shelter homes. It also directed authorities, including the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), to ensure that highways and expressways are cleared of stray animals and cattle.
The court had then reserved its order on an interim plea seeking a stay on some of the directions issued on August 11, observing that the "whole problem" relating to stray dogs was a result of "inaction" by local authorities.
