'I didn't let the dogs out'

Qatar Airways air-hostess blamed for the rising number of dog bite cases in her locality

Qatar Airways air-hostess blamed for the rising number of dog bite cases in her locality

Love thy neighbour. Sonia Roger lives by the Biblical adage.
But, it seems that Sonia Roger's love for stray dogs did not earn too much of affection from people living next door.


Puppy love: Airhostess-cum-animal rights activist Sonia Roger got a
number of stray dogs vaccinated at her own expense

Roger, 32, an airhostess with the Qatar Airways has been accused of harbouring the animals to cause inconvenience to others living with her in the posh Rosewood City at Gurgaon, Sector 56. However, Roger claims that since there's no "man at their house" people target her. "Me and my 75-year-old mother were having breakfast about 9 am on Feb 12 when around 15 armed people, accompanied by two domestic servants, broke into my house and created a ruckus. The maids assaulted me and my mother," Roger told MiD DAY.

Grapevine
In a written complaint to the Commissioner of Police, Gurgaon, she wrote: "Few members of the resident's welfare association are spreading malicious rumours about us and socially boycotting us. They also ensure that no domestic help should work for us. There are other residents also who feed the dogs, but nobody raises a finger towards them."

Police bias
Sonia claimed that ever since a mob barged into her house, she had been running from pillar to post to get a police complaint registered. Roger said constitutionally she was free to feed the dogs and even if the animals bite some people it was the responsibility of the civic authorities to take care of them.
The airhostess-cum-animal rights activist added that she had got a number of dogs vaccinated at her own expense.

Support Roger
Though a criminal complaint is pending against Roger after stray dogs bit the two domestic helps, animal rights activists have come out in support of the airhostess.

The Other Side

Sonia's dogs have become a menace for about 200 families living in the society. But she refuses to acknowledge the threat her dogs pose to people. When the RWA members asked her to keep her dogs chained, she abused them and threatened them. At least 10 people from the housing complex were bitten by Roger's dogs in past three months. Whenever we asked Roger to take care of her dogs, she would involve NGOs working for animal welfare and make a fuss, saying that she was being singled out for giving shelter to stray dogs. --u00a0Amrendra Jha, a RWA member

"Sonia's only crime was that she used to feed stray dogs. The animals are, in fact, the responsibility of the civic authorities. She was just performing her fundamental duty as enshrined in the Constitution," said Naresh Kadyan of People For Animals (PFA), Haryana.

"There has, however, been a history of animosity between those who feed stray dogs and other residents in the National Capital Region," said Kadyan.

Another PFA member Ambika Shukla alleged that the police are biased against Roger. "Those who assaulted her were not booked but instead she is facing charges for feeding poor animals."

Roger has been booked for negligent act with regard to animal conduct (under section 289) and threatening to kill (u/s 506 of Indian Penal Code).