Stray Dog Bite: Punjab & Haryana High Court Orders Minimum Rs.10K Compensation Per Tooth Mark, Issues Guidelines To Curb Menace

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has issued a slew of directions to police to expeditiously deal with the cases lodged pertaining to incidents of stray or wild animal menace in Punjab, Haryana & Chandigarh. In case of stray dog bites, the Court has ordered a minimum compensation of Rs.10,000 per tooth 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 the wound. The Court clarified that the State shall be primarily responsible to pay compensation with a right to recover the same from the defaulting Agencies/ Instrumentalities of the State and/or the private person.A batch of 193 cases were decided by the Court pertaining to the incidents involving stray and wild animals in Punjab, Haryana as well as Chandigarh.Raising concern over rising stay and wild animal menace, Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj observed that,"Notwithstanding that such a large number of cases are being reported and even instituted before the Courts, the State has shown no inclination to address the issue. They have chosen to look the other way as people suffer injuries every day and underplay the magnitude of the problem by under-recording the incidents. The denial of existence of a problem does not redress the problem but only escalates the agony of the citizen."Guidelines To Police(a) On receipt of information regarding accident due to stray/wild animal, the SHO shall get a DDR recorded without any undue delay.(b) The police officer shall verify the claim made and record statements of witnesses and prepare the site plan and summary.(c) A copy of the above report be forwarded to the claimant.(d) The above report be furnished within a period of 30 days of receipt of such information.The Bench further directed the Directors General of Police of the respective States to issue appropriate instructions to the Authorities in this regard.Committee To Determine CompensationIt also directed Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh admin to constitute a Committee to determine compensation to be paid on account of a claim made with respect to an accident, incident caused due to stray cattle and animal with such definition would include the animals such as cows, bulls, oxen, donkeys, dogs, nilgai, buffaloes etc. and also include the wild, pet and deserted animals as well.The said Committee shall be comprised of Deputy Commissioner of the concerned District as its Chairperson and shall have the following members:(a) Superintendent of Police/Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic),(b) Sub Divisional Magistrate of the concerned area,(c) The District Transport Officer,(d) Representative of the Chief Medical Officer,The bench said that that the petitioners, "herein shall, if so advised, file their applications before the aforesaid Committee for grant of compensation alongwith the supporting documents as provided in the respective policies notified by the respective States."It added that the compensation to be awarded by the Committee for the incidents/accidents pertaining to the death/permanent disability in the respective States shall be as prescribed in the respective State Policies for the claims lodged in the respective States, while in relation to the claims lodged in the UT, Chandigarh, the benefit as extended in the policy of Punjab shall be awarded since the compensation proposed in the said policy is more beneficial.Application Of Doctrine Of Strict Liability On StateThe Court considered Whether the doctrine of strict liability would apply on incidents/ accidents due to stray/wild animals on roads and public streets fastening the liability on the State?Answering the question the bench said, from the decisions of High Courts and Apex Court it is established that "State as well as its Agencies and Instrumentalities including the National Highway Authority of India have been fastened with the responsibility of keeping and maintaining their streets/roads safe including from the menace of stray/wild animals and stray dogs."The Court added that the States as well as its Agencies have also been held liable to compensate to the victims or heirs of the victims by holding that the State owed a public duty to safeguard the citizens/residents from the abovesaid menace and having failed to fulfill the said obligations, they cannot be permitted to escape liability by pleading paucity of resources or insufficiency of funds."People cannot be left to fend for themselves for a State failure. The rights of the claimants stand further crystallized since the State has been collecting road tax/user fee from the persons using the highways and roads and the Local Bodies are also collecting various types of taxes/fee/cess from the residents and are entitled to levy penalty/fine on the owners who have not been able to impound/keep their animals in chains and/or control," said the Court.Justice Bhardwaj summarised that the law specifically recognizes that a person may be held liable in respect of wrongful acts or omissions of...

Stray Dog Bite: Punjab & Haryana High Court Orders Minimum Rs.10K Compensation Per Tooth Mark, Issues Guidelines To Curb Menace

Aiman J. Chishti

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