A year later, Delhi court orders FIR against policeman for assaulting street dog

The Metropolitan Magistrate at Karkardooma court earlier this week ordered the Delhi Police to lodge an FIR against a policeman for assaulting a street dog with lathi during duty, in the city’s Jafrabad locality, in January 2022. The video of the act went viral on social media after which a few animal rights activists approached the court to seek justice for the animal as the police refused to lodge an FIR, the complainant said.

Those who approached the court were Asher Jesudoss, Sunayana Sibal and Akshita Kukreja— who had filed multiple complaints with the Delhi Police — for the sake of the dog, now lovingly called Jaffy.

“The Delhi Police refused to register an FIR or take the injured dog for a vetero-legal examination, as is required by various provisions under law, Ms. Kukreja told Today News 24.

The complainants were then compelled to approach the Magistrate Court. An application was filed by Advocate Gauri Puri under Section 156(3) of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 seeking registration of an FIR for the gruesome crime against Jaffy.

The complainant told the court that the accused, while riding on his motorcycle, scared a community dog resting on the footpath. The dog bit the policeman on his leg, after which it was assaulted with a lathi. It managed to run away and hide in one of the sidelanes.

“Thereafter the accused went in search of the dog with the intent of inflicting harm upon the animal. He also managed to find the animal nearby and immediately started beating the dog repeatedly and mercilessly with his lathi even though it was lying motionless and lifeless on the road,” the complaint said.

Retaliating to the allegations, the Delhi Police told the court that during investigation, it was found that the policeman had hit the dog in an act of “self defense”.

Delayed arrest

Roughly a year after the incident, the court finally directed the police to book the culprit. The policeman in the video was identified as ASI Ravindra, posted at police station Jafrabad.

Metropolitan Magistrate Bharat Aggarwal stated, “The procedure of conducting “inquiries” and handing over clean-chits to the proposed accused without even registering the FIR and without conducting “investigation” in the manner prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, can lead to disastrous consequences, further quelling the faith of the common man in the administration of criminal justice.”

He added that the preparation of closure reports prior to the registration of the FIR with the title of “inquiry” was impermissible, yet often resorted to by the police bypassing the procedure prescribed under the Code.

“Such practice deserves to be condemned and shall be avoided to ensure effective implementation of the law, in its letter and spirit,” the court further said.

It also added that the senior police officials must ensure that such delaying tactics were avoided and evidence be collected at the first instance, to avoid its tampering and loss of material against the culprits.

Taking note of the bias with which the ‘inquiry’ report had been prepared by the officers of the Jafrabad police station and the likely outcome that their investigation may not be fair and impartial, the Magistrate ordered that the concerned DCP may consider investigation in the case be done by an independent unit with a view to elicit the truth.