An FIR has been lodged against a high-rise La Residentia Society resident after his pet dog bit a six-year-old child inside their building's lift in Greater Noida (West.
The Greater Noida Authority (GNIDA) also slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 on the pet owner and asked him to bear the medical expenses of the child. This is for the first time that GNIDA has imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on a dog owner for carelessness in keeping the pet dog. According to the complaint lodged by the police, the child was returning to his 16th-floor home in La Residentia society after school on Tuesday and he was with his mother inside their building's lift. The CCTV footage of the episode also made its way to social media, purportedly showing the dog lunging at the child and biting on his arm. There were only three people—the child in the school uniform, his mother and the pet owner -- besides the dog in the lift at the time, the footage showed. “The mother and the child were in the lift, which went to the basement of the building before going up.
In the basement, another building resident entered the lift along with his pet dog,” the complaint stated. “Within moments of entering the lift, the dog bit the child even as his owner tried to control him,” it said.
The FIR was lodged Wednesday evening under section 289 (negligent behaviour with respect to an animal) of the Indian Penal Code, a police officer said, adding further probe was underway in the case. Meanwhile, the Greater Noida Authority also issued a notice to the pet owner over the incident, according to an official. In addition to the Rs 10,000 fine, the GNIDA also asked the dog owner Kartik Gandhi, a resident of the society, to pay the entire amount for the treatment of the dog bite victim.
In a notice sent on Wednesday to the dog owner, GNIDA medical officer Dr Prem Chand directed him to deposit Rs. 10,000 fine with GNIDA within seven working days. If the fine is not deposited within seven days in GNIDA's account and treatment money is not paid, further action will be taken against the dog owner for which he himself will be responsible, the notice added.
The dog bite incident occurred due to carelessness in keeping the pet dog, the notice added.This was the second incident in about two months of a dog biting a child in the lift in Uttar Pradesh's national capital region. A schoolboy was bitten by a dog inside a housing society elevator in Ghaziabad in September. Earlier in Ghaziabad in September, a schoolboy was bitten by a dog inside a housing society elevator even as the animal's owner appeared to be a mute spectator, following which the Ghaziabad police registered a case.
The incident had happened in Rajnagar Extension's Charms Castle when the boy, with a schoolbag on his shoulder, was bitten by the dog inside the lift of the high-rise residential building.
The video of the incident went viral on social media. The boy's parents had approached Nandigram Police Station where a complaint under IPC section 289 (negligent conduct with respect to animals) of IPC was registered.