“Ferocious breeds including Pitbull abandoned in our village, attacking kids”: Outrage, fear in Punjab village where 2 kids mauled to death by dogs

Harsukhpreet’s was the second such death in Hassanpur village of Punjab’s Ludhiana district, where a pack of dogs, some days ago, killed another boy, Arjun, 12, a migrant from Bihar who was chasing a kite when attacked.

But since Arjun’s painful death failed to move the authorities to initiate any action, the second one was apparently written on the wall as the ferocious dogs, which, according to the villagers, also include the banned Pitbull breed, kept roaming in the village, on the lookout for either children or small animals such as calves.

The village is now outraged and under a grip of unrelenting fear. The children have been instructed not to move out of their homes without family, and some activists at their own level have constituted teams to catch the dogs, but they say “it is nearly impossible with proper logistics, which only the government can provide”. The day Harsukhpreet died, the villagers had also blocked the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway for some hours in protest.

Talking to The Indian Express, Baljit Singh, the village sarpanch, said the pack of dogs killing their children were not their “native breeds”. “These are ferocious breeds, including Pitbull, which have been banned by the government, but people from Ludhiana city have abandoned them in our village. Now, they are killing children and animals. They are openly roaming inside the village. I bathed the bodies of both deceased children with my own hands before they were cremated. My entire clothes were soaked in blood. Arjun, the migrant kid, had gone out of his home to chase a kite when it was attacked. Harsukhpreet was literally dragged near his home within seconds and taken away by dogs. He was finished within a minute. So brutal was the attack that it was difficult to see the body. In fact, seeing the brutality of the attacks, we wouldn’t even have found their bodies later,” said the sarpanch.

“We cannot tolerate this anymore. We can’t keep sitting and see our children being killed. We urge the Punjab government that either they should do something, take away these dogs or give authority to the panchayat to deal with them on our own. We had formed some teams to catch the dogs, but it’s nearly impossible without proper logistics,” he added.

‘My son died in my hands, I could do nothing’

Randhir Singh, 48, a farmer and father of Harsukhpreet, said he wants to ensure that what happened with him doesn’t happen with any other family.

“It seems that governments have now started a new movement “bandeyan nu maaro, kutteyan nu bachao” (kill the humans, save the dogs). My son had only stepped out of the house to look for his little puppy but never returned. He was our only child. Can these governments, who have made these rules to protect dogs, understand our pain? Few days ago, another migrant child was killed in the same manner. My son died in my hands, but I could do nothing,” said Randhir.

“The dogs mauled him in the neck and he could not breathe. They were so overpowering that he could not even make any noise or cry. We would have kept searching and even the body wouldn’t have been found had I reached there a few minutes later. Kutta labhan gaya si par jag to hi chala gaya (He had gone to find his pup but himself left the world),” said the crying father.

‘We don’t sleep the whole night, miss him’

Shankar Ram, a labourer who works at a high-end marriage palace in Ludhiana near his village, said that he and his wife still cry for the whole night and don’t sleep while missing their son Arjun.

Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone from their native village in Bihar, where they have gone to complete some last rituals of their son, Shankar said, “We have been devastated. That day Arjun had just gone out to chase a wandering kite. He was just too fond of kites. I used to stop him from going far but that day I was at work. His mother thought he would return soon, but he did not. Someone informed me at work that my son had been attacked by dogs. By the time I reached, the dogs had wounded him so badly that I wasn’t able to look at his body. Had other villagers not reached there, we might not even have found his remains. I fail to sleep the whole night, missing my son. My wife is unwell, and I do not have money to get her treatment done.”

Both families said that none from the administration, except local police, have reached out to them yet for any help or even a word of condolence. The Ludhiana rural police have written to the deputy commissioner’s office, informing them about the deaths and urging immediate action by the departments concerned.

Inspector Amritpal Singh, SHO Mullanpur Dakha police station, said, “We have written to our DSP, who has further written to the Ludhiana DC office, that immediate action needs to be taken in this matter. The police can only do as much in such cases. We have also filed inquest proceedings.”

Jitendra Jorwal, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana. said that a private firm associated with the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation will sterilise dogs in the Hassanpur village on emergency basis.

Jorwal said the administration will compensate the company, and the action is being taken as per the standard operating procedures of Animal Birth Control.

Municipal committees will also issue tenders for sterilisation of stray dogs in rural areas this week, he said.