New Delhi: The death of a six-year-old girl due to rabies after a stray dog bite has sparked outrage among the residents of Pooth Kalan in Rohini, who claimed on Monday that the MCD began removing canines from the streets only after the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the incident.
A Supreme Court bench earlier in the day highlighted that hundreds of dog bite cases are reported daily in Delhi and its outskirts, often leading to rabies, with children and elderly people being the most vulnerable.
“We take suo motu cognisance of this news item,” the court said, ordering to register the death of the girl in Pooth Kalan as a public interest matter. No immediate reaction was available from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
Chhavi Sharma, affectionately called ‘Bittu’ by her family, was bitten by a stray dog on June 30 while going to her aunt’s house in the same area.
According to her family, the dog attacked the girl without any provocation.
“She came crying, bleeding heavily, and collapsed at my doorstep. Neighbours helped, as we washed her wounds and immediately took her to the Dr B R Ambedkar Hospital, where her anti-rabies treatment began,” the girl’s aunt Krishna Devi said.
Doctors gave the first vaccine dose and scheduled the remaining three injections for July 3, 7, and 28. But Chhavi’s condition worsened by mid-July. On her first day back at school on July 21, she started vomiting and was rushed home, Krishna Devi said.
That night, she lost strength in her limbs and stopped speaking. She was taken to a private hospital, where doctors suspected rabies. Chhavi died on July 25, just days before her final vaccine dose was due.
Her family alleged medical negligence after the
first hospital visit.
“She couldn’t even lift her hand properly by the second week. We kept going back (to the hospital), but no one seemed worried. Had they paid attention, maybe our daughter would have been alive today,” Krishna Devi said, as
she broke down in tears.
“Why did it take a child’s death and a Supreme Court order for anyone to care,” she asked. Chhavi, who lost her mother as a baby during the Covid-19 pandemic, was raised by her paternal uncle and aunt.
“She was our gudiya. Everyone pampered her. She brought life into our home. Now there is only silence. We did everything to make sure she never felt her mother’s
absence,” her aunt said.
Residents of Pooth Kalan claimed they filed multiple complaints about stray dog menace in the area, and the same dog that bit Chhavi had attacked several others before.
“The dog bit at least four to five people before her,” a relative said.
“We begged authorities to act, but no one came. Now that a child has died, the MCD has suddenly started removing dogs (from the streets). What were they waiting for,” a local resident questioned.
Similar complaints have emerged from Shastri Nagar in north Delhi. A 46-year-old woman said she was bitten by a stray dog in March.
“It wasn’t just me. At least 20 people were attacked by the same dog that week. Despite multiple emails and calls to the MCD, nothing changed. That dog still roams freely. We live in fear every day,” she said.
Locals blamed unregulated feeding by outsiders for stray attacks. Ex-minister Vijay Goel welcomed the SC move, citing over 2,000 daily dog bite cases in Delhi. MCD plans
zonal shelters for strays.