‘Brutally attacked by stray dogs’, Delhi woman wants Rs 20 lakh compensation. Here’s her cost break-up

In an order passed on August 18, 2023, Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed that “in the cases relating to dog bite, the financial assistance shall be at a minimum of Rs 10,000/- per teeth 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 wound.”

The order came in a batch of 193 writ petitions relating to the “payment of compensation to the victims/ families of victims for the incidents/ accidents…on public streets/ public roads” involving “stray/ wild animal”.

The High Court had directed Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh to “constitute a Committee to determine compensation…[for] accident/ incident caused due to stray cattle/ animal…[including] cows, bulls, oxen, donkeys, dogs, nilgai, buffaloes etc., [as well as] wild, pet and deserted animals”.

The committee shall pass its award “within a period of four months of the claims being filed”, the court said.

The petitioner in the Delhi case, Priyanka Rai, has sought damages for a total wound area of 12 cm, which works out to Rs 12 lakh at the rate of Rs 20,000 per 0.2 cm of wound specified by the Punjab and Haryana HC.

She has asked for an additional Rs 4.2 lakh at the rate of Rs 10,000 per tooth mark, claiming that the attack “involved the use of all 42 teeth of the dog”.

Adult dogs have 20 teeth in the maxilla (upper jaw) and 22 in the mandible (lower jaw). There are 12 incisors and four canines in a dog’s mouth, which are used to grasp and tear respectively.

Rai has also asked for Rs 3.8 lakh as compensation for trauma, her lawyer Sahej Uban said – taking her total claim to Rs 20 lakh. “She was unable to even step out of her house freely because of the condition of dogs in that area and continues to live in psychological fear,” Uban said.

On August 11 this year, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan directed the government and civic bodies of Delhi and “appropriate authorities” in Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad to “start picking up stray dogs from all localities” and putting them in shelters “at the earliest”, and to “make all localities free of stray dogs”. The court modified this order on August 22, saying that the dogs that are picked up shall be “released back to the same area” after they are sterilised, dewormed, and vaccinated.

On November 3, the Supreme Court allowed victims of dog bites to intervene in the stray dogs case, and will hear them on Friday (November 7).

On the question of applicability of the Punjab and Haryana HC decision to Rai’s case, Uban said, “It is a settled principle of law that while decisions of another high court are not binding on Delhi HC, they do possess persuasive value, especially when the reasoning is sound and the factual matrix is similar”.

Rai, who is an assistant branch manager in a bank, has alleged that one of the dogs caused deep tissue injury to her left foot, and that “she was rendered completely dependent for basic functions”.

The “incident also precipitated intense mental trauma and post-traumatic stress” on Rai, who was “diagnosed by a qualified psychologist with acute post-traumatic anxiety”, the petition says.

“Due to [the] prolonged medical and psychological recovery period, [Rai] was compelled to take unscheduled leave, adversely impacting her salary, appraisal, and future career prospects,” says the petition.