Gurugram woman, severely bitten by pet dog, to receive Rs 2 lakh in damages

Gurugram: The District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum on Tuesday ordered the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to give interim compensation of Rs 2 lakh to a woman who was injured after being attacked by a pet dog in August. The forum also said if the MCG wants, this compensation amount can be recovered from the dog owner.

Woman, bitten by dog, suffers critical injuries

On August 11, victim Munni, who works as a domestic help in the locality, was attacked by Vinit Chikara's dog while she was on her way to work with her sister-in-law. She had suffered critical injuries on her head and face and was referred from the civil hospital in Gurugram to Delhi's Safdarjung hospital.

In the FIR registered at Civil Line police station, the dog's breed was mentioned as 'Pitbull'. Later, the owner informed that the breed is a 'Dogo Argentino'.

Owner's dog license cancelled

The forum directed the MCG to take the dog in custody and cancel Chikara's licence to own a dog with immediate effect.

It also directed to ban 11 foreign breeds and instructed MCG to keep all strays in pounds after taking them into custody.

The forum also directed MCG to formulate a policy for pet dogs within three months.

"In the interest of justice an amount of Rs 2 lakhs is ordered to be paid as compensation by way of interim relief by the MCG to the victim who is stated to be a very poor lady doing the household works in the houses of others," the order read.

Owner kept banned dog breed

"It is further made clear that the owner of the dog had blatantly violated the law of the land and rules framed thereunder for having kept the banned breed of dog i.E. Dogo Argentino as a pet dog, so the MCG is put at liberty to recover the amount of Rs 2 lakhs from the owner of the dog," it said.

In the case, on behalf of the victim, the lawyer Sandeep Saini had filed a complaint in the consumer court under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 in which compensation of Rs 20 lakhs was demanded and MCG and dog owner Neetu Chhikara was made a party.

After hearing all the parties, the consumer court of Sanjeev Jindal on Tuesday issued orders to completely ban 11 dangerous breed dogs in the district along with an order to pay interim compensation to the victim.

"As per the notification of the Government of India dated 25.4.2016 the following pet dogs of foreign breeds are hereby completely banned with immediate effect w.E.F. 15.11.2022 that are American Pit-bull terriers, Dogo Argentino, Rottweiler, Neapolitan mastiff, Boerboel, Presa Canario, Wolf dog, Bandog, American Bulldog, Fila Brasileiro and Cane Corso," the court order read.

"The MCG is directed to cancel all the licences, if any issued in this regard in favour of the dog owners for keeping the cited breeds with immediate effect and take into its custody the aforesaid dogs," it stated.