01 July,2011 07:30 AM IST | | Shashank Shekhar
Gurgaon air-hostess, accused of harbouring stray dogs to cause inconvenience to others, gets relief from court
Sonia Roger, an air-hostess with Qatar Airways and resident of Gurgaon, who was blamed for the rising number of dog bite cases in her locality, finally has something to cheer about. The courts have given her relief. An FIR was registered against Roger on February 16, 2010 at Sadar police station of Gurgaon under section 289 of IPC. This was quashed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently.
Stray issue
Roger, 32, was 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. "My 75-year-old mother and I were having breakfast at 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," said Roger.
In a written complaint to the Commissioner of Police, Gurgaon, she wrote: "Some 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."
In danger
Sonia claimed that ever since the 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.
