Maksood-ul-Haq (left) with his son Sirajuddin, who was attacked by stray dogs on Monday, at Safdarjung Hospital
| Photo Credit: Mehul Malpani
A 14-year-old boy suffered multiple injuries after stray dogs attacked him in Vasant Kunj’s Rangpuri Pahari Basti, the same south-west Delhi slum cluster where last month, two brothers, aged 7 and 5, died in dog attacks.
The incident happened on Monday morning around 7.30 a.m. when Sirajuddin was going to get milk from a nearby dairy. “Some 10-12 dogs pounced on me and started dragging me towards the forest area,” Sirajuddin said.
He received injuries on the neck, shoulder, hands and thighs.
The victim’s father, Maksood-ul-Haq, said he took Sirajuddin to a local doctor on Monday. A day later, the police approached him and took his son to Safdarjung Hospital, from where he was discharged the same evening.
Rescued by neighbours
Mr. Haq, who works as a rag-picker, said his son was rescued by two neighbours. “A woman and a man from the neighbourhood saved him. Had they not reached in time, my child would have died,” he said.
Shabina Begum, the victim’s mother, who works as a house help, said the attack was so brutal that she fainted upon seeing her son “fully covered in blood”.
“We did not have the money to get our son treated. A relative lent us ₹5,000 for the treatment,” Ms. Begum said.
“We left our native place to give our children a better life. But how can we do that when we’re always living in fear,” she added.
‘People terrorised’
Ms. Begum said that around 30-40 stray dogs have terrorised the residents in the area and that people prefer not to step out of their homes at odd hours.
Ms. Begum blamed the aggressive behaviour of the dogs on the bones and offal thrown by meat vendors in the nearby forest area. Soon after the siblings were mauled to death here in March, at least 50 dogs were picked up from the nearby forest area by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The corporation sterilised the dogs and released them back at the same spot within three weeks. The residents expressed their anger at the decision to release the dogs near their slum cluster. “After they were released, four people here have been attacked by stray dogs,” said Mr. Haq.
A senior MCD official said the civic body had brought the dogs back to the same area after sterilising them as per the rules and a Delhi High Court order. On the issue of leftovers dumped by meat vendors, the official said, “We will examine the problem of waste from meat shops and find a solution.”
