And to ad more to this story, DURING MY current brief stay in Mumbai I find dogs lying here and there nearby mess and in front of washroom in hostel 3 of old campus of Tata Institute of social Sciences. And what to say of JNU, hunger strike went in vain,and dogs have multiplied.
Basant Kumar Mohanty http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150513/jsp/nation/story_19781.jsp A Presidency University student plays with stray dogs kept in a makeshift enclosure on the campus in Calcutta New Delhi, May 12: Trust Presidency to face today what St. Stephen's will tomorrow - feel the "bite". Around 20 dogs in the top Delhi college face eviction after biting three visually challenged students over the past four months, their plight and backlash mirroring that of Ghontu who was confined with five strays at the Calcutta institution before being freed last week. St. Stephen's has put up a notice asking students to shoo away the strays from the campus and warned of action if anyone feeds the pack of 20, prompting activists to let out a growl. "Shoo away the dogs lying in residence (hostel) corridor, near entrance of the mess, library and lecture hall," says the notice issued by Sanjay Kumar, co-ordinator of Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC), a unit of the management tasked with assisting students. "Do not feed stray dogs. Anybody found doing so, will face disciplinary action. Dogs are not allowed in the residence room. Violation can result in expulsion from the residence," the notice added. Students have also been asked to guide the visually challenged away from dogs. Unfair, says Maneka Gandhi's People For Animals (PFA), which had filed a police complaint against the confinement of the Presidency strays, forcing the authorities to free them. Ambika Shukla, a member of the PFA's board of trustees, alleged that the Stephen's notice violated the Stray Dogs Management Rules of 2001, a central law, and the directives of Animal Welfare Board of India. Both prohibit driving away strays. Shukla claimed the group of 20 at St. Stephen's had been "living harmlessly" and were "older residents of the college than the students". "Dogs co-exist peacefully. They react in self-defence. It is possible that the visually challenged students could have hit the dogs with their sticks by mistake. The other students should guide the visually challenged if any dog is lying in their path," Shukla said St. Stephen's has defended the notice, insisting it is legally bound to provide a safe environment to the physically challenged on the campus. "The notice is right. The visually challenged should get priority over dogs," said Karen Gabriel, the college's media adviser. She pointed out that India, besides passing its own laws for such students, was a signatory to the UN treaty for welfare of persons with disabilities. Gabriel said most of the dogs had been sterilised and vaccinated, but the college still couldn't take a risk. "Nobody is against dogs. But we cannot get visually challenged students attacked by them." The college has around 1,200 students, including 30-odd physically challenged, most of whom are visually impaired. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
