Activists, residents clash over stray dogs at Ghaziabad high-rise; police launch probe

The Ghaziabad police launched an inquiry after the residents’ welfare association (RWA) of River Heights in Raj Nagar Extension and People for Animals (PFA) activist group accused each other of assaulting their members on Wednesday.

The incident was the fallout of an argument over relocation of at least 20 stray dogs in the housing society with the help of a commercial vehicle after a spate of dog bites. Videos of the purported clash were widely shared on social media platforms.

“The stray dogs cannot be relocated and their relocation is illegal. On receiving complaints of relocation of stray dogs, we went to River Heights housing society on Wednesday to find out what happened. The residents misbehaved with us and one of our woman volunteers, who is also a resident of the society. Other residents led by the RWA president also threatened us,” said Surbhi Rawat, president of PFA (Ghaziabad).

“We have given videos of the incident to police along with our complaint,” she added.

Subodh Tyagi, president of River Heights’ RWA, said there have been frequent dog bites in the high-rise housing society in the past week.

“Some residents tried to catch the stray dog that was the most aggressive, but it was not relocated anywhere as alleged. When I intervened and tried to pacify the agitated residents and PFA activists, one of the woman activists hit me from behind. So, some of the woman residents caught hold of her to prevent her from hitting me again. Our high-rise has 40 stray dogs and despite complaints, they were not sterilised and their population is growing. We have given a police complaint,” said Tyagi.

One of the videos shows people attempting to catch dogs with the help of a net while another shows a woman being assaulted by other women.

Alok Dubey, assistant commissioner of police (city 2), said, “We have received complaints from both groups with regard to the incident. The complaints have been received at Nandgram police station. We have started an inquiry and further legal action will follow.”