Woman slapped eight times in 38 seconds for feeding dogs in Ghaziabad

Representative image

A video from Ghaziabad has surfaced in which a woman was slapped eight times in less than 40 seconds by a man while she was feeding stray dogs near his apartment complex.

The victim, identified as Yashika Shukla, said she was at a designated feeding place late on Friday night when the attack took place. “Didi, record video. He is hitting me,” she is heard saying in the video, which has since gone viral.

The accused, identified as Kamal Khanna of Brahmaputra Enclave Society in Vijaynagar, was seen in the video hitting Shukla repeatedly. He responded brazenly during the altercation, saying, “Yes, record this.” At one point, he also claimed that the woman hit him first (Tunne maara hai pehle). The bystanders did not intervene.

The police have registered a case and taken Khanna into custody.

The incident came just hours after the Supreme Court modified its earlier order on the relocation of stray dogs in Delhi and the neighbouring areas. On August 11, the court had directed city authorities to round up all stray dogs within eight weeks and keep them in shelters without release, a move that drew questions over its feasibility.

On Friday, the court scaled back that directive, ruling that dogs should be “released after they are vaccinated and sterilised” unless they are suspected to have rabies or “display aggressive behaviour.” The court also directed that designated feeding spots be set up for stray dogs.

The Ghaziabad Police have taken cognisance of the viral video. An FIR has been filed and the accused has been arrested, and a detailed investigation is currently underway.

Notably, the incident took place on the day when the Supreme Court scaled back its earlier order to catch and remove the stray dogs from the National Capital Region (NCR).

The Supreme Court on Friday modified the August 11 order saying stray dogs will be released back to the same area after sterilisation and immunisation, except those infected with rabies or exhibiting aggressive behaviour.

A three-judge bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice NV Anjaria heard the case.

"Dogs with rabies or aggressive behavior shall not be released. No public feeding of dogs allowed. Dedicated feeding spaces of stray dogs to be created. There have been instances due to such feeding instances," the top court said.

The Supreme Court also directed municipal authorities to create dedicated spaces to feed stray dogs. "We have impleaded all states, Union Territories and expanded the scope of matter pan India," it said.

However, the top court said those who obstruct the work of catching stray dogs will be fined Rs 25,000 to Rs 2 lakh. It said animal lovers can reach out to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to adopt stray dogs.