Two women assaulted for feeding strays

Mumbai: A 71-year-old woman Jenny Ram Singh and her 35-year-old daughter, Danielle, who are animal-welfare activists, were assaulted in Vikhroli for feeding stray dogs on Sunday night by one of their male neighbours on grounds that they were creating a nuisance. After receiving the complaint from the victims, the Vikhroli police registered a non-cognisable (NC) complaint.

When contacted, Ms Singh said the police registered an NC instead of a First Information Report (FIR) against an accused named in their complaint. Ms Singh said the assault left her clothes torn and injury marks on her body. Despite attempts, The Asian Age could not contact the accused.    

According to the complainant’s version, she and her 71-year-old mother were feeding the stray dogs near their building, when they saw the accused staring at them from a distance. Since the accused was far, the mother-daughter duo did not react to his stares and continued feeding the dogs. After a while, the accused allegedly started following them and hurling abuses at her and even assaulted Ms Singh. When Ms Singh mother tried to save her, the accused then hit the senior citizen on the chest.

The complainant Singh added, “People saw him assaulting us, but none of them came forward to help. When we approached the Vikhroli police, they registered a non-cognisable (NC) complaint against the accused, despite we showing the injury marks and torn clothes to them.”

When The Asian Age contacted the officers at the Vikhroli police station, said that since the matter of assault was minor, they only registered an NC complaint against the accused. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 7) Sachin Patil said, “We have registered an NC complaint, and we will look into the matter.”

While talking to The Asian Age, Danielle Singh said, “The neighbour’s wife has also threatened to kill the stray dogs and has threatened to harm my brother and me if we continue feeding the strays. The police should have registered a FIR against him as he hit my mother in the chest, due to which she could have lost her life.”