Dog-bite victim suffers serious injuries, seeks Rs 3.6 lakh relief

After a man suffered serious wounds on one of his legs after being attacked by a stray dog on Wednesday, he demanded a compensation of Rs 3.60 lakh from the government and lodged a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner and the MC Commissioner. Notably, usually people are not aware about the compensation provision and it is a rare case that a man has applied for the compensation.

As per the complaint filed by the victim, Girdhar Singh Rawat, a resident of Ayali Khurd, on Wednesday, he was going for some work around 7 am and while crossing the main Balloke Road, Haibowal Kalan, some stray dogs started chasing him and one of the dogs grabbed his left leg in its mouth tightly resulting in severe wounds on the leg.

“As advised by Er Kapil Arora of the Public Action Committee, who is also my employer, I visited the Aam Aadmi Clinic at Haibowal Khurad for treatment. Dr Japneet Kaur Pahwa thoroughly checked the wounds and thereafter gave an OPD prescription with diagnosis advise as ‘category 3 bite’.

The complainant said afterwards, as advised by the doctor, he visited the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, for further treatment and got one vaccine on his arm and another at the wound and came back to the office at 5 pm.

The complainant claimed that the Punjab & Haryana High Court in regard with dog bite cases has held as under: “The state shall be primarily responsible for paying compensation with a right to recover the same from defaulting agencies/ instrumentalities of the state and/or the private person, if any. In the case of pet dogs, the owner would bear the responsibility of compensating the victim, while in the case of stray dogs, the authorities would be responsible for compensating the victim. In cases relating to dog bites, the financial assistance shall be at a minimum of Rs 10,000 per tooth mark and where the flesh has been pulled off the skin, it shall be a minimum of Rs 20,000 per ‘0.2 cm’ of the wound”.

The court also issued directions to Punjab, Haryana and the Chandigarh Administration to constitute committees chaired by deputy commissioners of respective districts to determine the compensation amount to be paid for a claim with respect to an incident caused by stray cattle or animals. The court has mandated that compensation is to be awarded within four months of a claim being filed so victims may have some relief.

Keeping in view of the directions of the HC, the compensation due to wounds and teeth marks due to dog bite comes out to be at Rs 3.60 lakh, claimed the victim.