Noida Baby Dies After Attack By Street Dog, Angry Residents Protest

A baby died after an attack by a stray dog at an apartment building in Noida near Delhi on Monday. Huge protests have erupted after the death, with angry residents accusing civic bodies of failing to act on complaints of dogs threatening their safety.

The incident took place at the Lotus Boulevard apartments in Sector 100, Noida, around 4.30 pm yesterday, police officer Rajneesh Verma said.

The one-year-old boy was hospitalised with severe injuries after he was mauled by a dog that had wandered into the apartment complex.

"Unfortunately, we lost the child late last night," said a resident, Rajneesh Yadav.

The boy was the youngest of four children.

The baby's parents are construction workers who were working on a road in the complex. The child was near them when the dog attacked.

The police said agencies were called in to catch stray dogs in the area. According to reports, when the dog-catchers arrived, some residents drove them out.

Many stray dogs were rounded up.

A large number of residents gathered after the incident and demanded action by the police and civic bodies to ensure protection against stray dogs. They also raised slogans against the Noida Authority.

Noida Authority officer Indu Prakash Singh said the agency was coordinating with residential societies and dog shelters to check the menace of dog bites.

"Noida Authority is working on setting up four shelter homes for dogs. These shelter homes will come up within a month and help check the stray dog menace in Noida," he said, adding that the agency usually received eight to 10 calls a day on the problem.

The protesting residents said the civic body had failed to sterilize and vaccinate the dogs.

Vinod Sharma, a resident, said the dogs had gone feral and were a huge threat to children.

"People keep feeding these dogs. The dogs have become aggressive and there is an incident every two months. Our children play in the area. We keep flagging our worry but no action is ever taken," Mr Sharma said.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had backed a Delhi High Court order that allowed residents to feed stray dogs in their colonies. It had earlier put the order on pause on grounds that it could end up exacerbating the stray dog problem.

The case originated from a dispute between two residents of a neighbourhood in Delhi. One of them had gone to court requesting that his neighbour be stopped from feeding street dogs near his house.