Woman lodges FIR against husband, accuses him of killing her pet dog

In a rare development, a woman got registered a case against her husband alleging that he had either abandoned her 10-year-old female pet Sheffy, a German Shepherd, or killed it. After shuttling between the offices of Ludhiana rural police officers for a month, the woman secured registration of a case on Wednesday at City Jagraon police station under Section 325 (mischief by killing or maiming animal) of the BNS and Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 against the accused.

As per the complainant, Jasneet Kaur, the case was registered after the intervention of Menaka Gandhi, former Union Minister and Chairperson of People for Animals (PFA), after some animal lovers sent a complaint to her office on her behalf alleging police inaction.

The booked accused has been identified as Surinderpal Singh (55), a resident of Ram Nagar, Jagraon.

Jasneet said she had been looking after Sheffy as a family member for the past ten years. Her husband allegedly hated the dog. On July 25, Jasneet got admitted to a hospital in Faridkot for some treatment while her husband was at home to look after Sheffy. On July 31, when she returned, Sheffy was not at home. When she asked her husband, he initially didn’t give any satisfactory reply. Later, he told her that on July 30 morning, he had left Sheffy on a Ferozepur-bound train as the dog was suffering from severe ear infection and might have infected them. Later, when she took help of some animal lovers, her husband then changed his statement and said he left the dog on a Chandigarh-bound train.

“Since Sheffy was like my child, I scanned several CCTV cameras and found footage of July 30 morning which captured my husband taking Sheffy along at around 5.37 am and then returning alone within 20 minutes which made me believe that he did something to Sheffy. Believing my husband at first, I went to the Ferozepur Railway Station and checked CCTV cameras, but could not find Sheffy. I also sent Sheffy’s images to my acquaintances living in Ferozepur and Chandigarh and shared tonnes of messages on social media but to no avail,” Jasneet said.

Jasneet added on August 4, she had lodged a police complaint against her husband suspecting that he might poisoned the dog. “I visited police officers multiple times but they went about dilly-dallying. At last, with the intervention of Menaka Gandhi, the police registered a case against my husband,” she added.

For a month, her husband had not been living with her here at Jagroan and was reportedly putting up at gurdwaras in other districts. She also called him several times to inquire about Sheffy, but he was stuck to his statement that he had left the dog on the Chandigarh-bound train.

Jagraon City SHO Amritpal Singh said a case under non-bailable sections was registered against the accused and efforts were on to arrest him. “If the accused traces the dog, the FIR can be withdrawn, else legal action would be taken as per law,” the SHO added.

The accused told The Tribune his wife was lying as he was the one who brought the dog 10 years back. “I have not killed the dog, I left Sheffy on a Chandigarh-bound train. For the past few months, Sheffy had been suffering from an ear infection, I was taking care of her as my wife was not taking much interest. But now, the infection had turned severe, my wife and I might have faced health issues had I not decided to abandon Sheffy. I am ready to face police action.”