‘Serve pizza, buttermilk to kids’: Delhi HC to two neighbours over pet fight

Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court directed two neighbours fighting over pets to "serve buttermilk and pizzas" to children at a government-run childcare institution as a condition for quashing police cases filed against each other. The dispute stemmed from a scuffle over their pet dogs.

According to a report by Hindustan Times, a bench of Justice Arun Monga, in his August 19 order, observed that the fight was private in nature and the continuation of the criminal case would serve no useful purpose.

In a four-page order, the judge noted that keeping the FIRs would serve no constructive purpose and could reignite tensions, while quashing them would “foster cordiality and goodwill between the neighbours.”

As per the report, the incident took place on May 5, when the neighbours clashed over handling their pets, leading to registration of cross FIRs invoking penal provisions such as criminal intimidation, grievous hurt, and wrongful restraint at the Mansarovar Park police station.

The parties appeared before the court and voluntarily affirmed that they had resolved the matter and did not wish to pursue the criminal cases further. Their lawyers stated that both sides had reached an amicable settlement, noting that the FIR and cross FIRs had arisen from a significant misunderstanding.

During the hearing, the court was informed that one of the complainants ran a pizza business. Taking this into account, the court quashed the FIRs and directed both parties to perform community service by serving pizza and buttermilk to the residents and staff of Sanskar Ashram in GTB Nagar.

“In such circumstances, continuation of the criminal proceedings would serve no useful purpose and would rather amount to an abuse of the process of law. Not quashing the criminal proceedings would rather rekindle hostility, whereas quashing the same would promote cordiality and bonhomie between the neighbours,” the judgment was quoted by HT.