New Delhi: Two years ago, Ayesha Christina Benn stood alone for days on end outside the Animal Birth Control (ABC) centre in Rohini’s Sector 27, alleging that the facility was openly flouting the ABC Rules and not releasing stray dogs in their original territories after sterilisation.
Denied entry, she put out a video on social media seeking public support, in which she claimed that Red Fort dogs—many of whom she had microchipped—had been brought all the way to the Rohini centre (16 km away) ahead of Republic Day, even though there were two other ABC centres, including her own, located much closer to the pick-up points.
She alleged that the centre was not allowing her access because she had previously pointed out several protocol violations there. These included not tagging dogs, using space designated for sterilisation surgeries as a “bedroom” and instead carrying out surgeries in a non-sterile room, a dog catchers’ “nexus” and complaints of sterilised dogs being released with open surgery wounds.
The response to her social media SOS was tepid at best.
On Friday night, Benn stood in front of that very ABC centre, except the scene was starkly different. A horde of animal lovers were rattling the gates, angrily chanting slogans and demanding they be let in, after pictures and videos purportedly pointing to cruelty against stray dogs within the centre spread like wildfire on WhatsApp groups.
What brought this crowd to the centre were photographs of suspected animal remains, including what was presumed to be the skull and bones of a dog at the premises’ periphery, and allegations of the staff beating the canines. There was also a drone video purportedly showing a staff member placing organs in a plastic bucket.
Incidentally, this happened hours after the Supreme Court modified its contentious stray dogs ruling, and ordered that the dogs are not to be put in shelters for now, but are to be released after sterilisation and vaccination, which is supposed to be the norm under the city’s ABC programme.
The otherwise dark, secluded area where the Rohini centre stands was bustling and crammed with vehicles including police vans. The massive crowd of around a hundred was divided into a smaller, unruly lot pushing at the gates and hurling expletives, some volunteers who were desperately looking for stray dogs that were part of their feeding rounds, and a quieter group attempting to keep the peace.
Two men were dragged away and beaten up by the police. A dog feeder, in tears, said she had come looking for two dogs she fed daily in the Rohini area, whom she had seen grown up in front of her eyes.
Claims of “dog killings”, “dog meat trade”, “torture”, “neglect”, “corruption” and “botched surgeries” flew thick and fast.
The scene remained tense for several hours, as the animal lovers doubled down on their demand to enter and investigate. But police personnel flanked the gates, which were locked from inside.
The police gradually started allowing small batches of people to enter the centre. Among them were Delhi Animal Welfare Board member Dr Asher Jesudoss, Supreme Court advocate-on-record Jasmine Damkewala, and Benn, whose NGO Neighbourhood Woof is also empanelled with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to carry out sterilisations. Police personnel accompanied these parties, and took videos inside the centre.
Speaking to ThePrint, both Jesudoss and Damkewala confirmed they had seen what looked like the skull and bones of a dog just outside the centre. “I also saw a very sick dog kept in a washroom wearing an e-collar. This dog was rescued by some volunteers and is undergoing treatment in a different medical facility,” Jesudoss said.
Jesudoss and Damkewala, who entered the centre in different groups, both said they noticed that the floors looked like they had just been wiped and the centre freshly cleaned. Damkewala said there were no CCTVs. She counted a total of 112 dogs when she went in to see the kennels.
Contacted by ThePrint, Deputy Director (MCD Veterinary Services) S.K. Yadav said, “Animal activists stormed into the centre, broke the gate, and brought drone cameras with them. I spoke to Dr Rajeev from the (Rohini) centre, who told me there is a dog with a fractured leg (inside). The doctor himself had picked up the dog on 17 August from near the centre, but since its condition was so bad, the leg had to be amputated. Somebody must have clicked a picture and made it viral.”
Yadav claimed this was all being done because the animal welfare community did not want even aggressive dogs to be picked off the streets despite the court order. Asked if he had received any complaints about the Rohini Sector 27 centre, he said he hadn’t.
Outer North Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Hareshwar V Swami told ThePrint it was by and large a peaceful protest. “Around 150 people assembled near the centre around 11 pm Friday. Multiple teams of representatives from them were sent for verification of their claims about torture and mistreatment of dogs. They dispersed around 4 pm.”
One protester, he added, was detained and taken away from the site as he was trying to incite the crowd to forcibly enter the centre. “He was released on Saturday morning.”
The DCP further said some people were initially aggressive and trying to break open the door of the ABC centre, but police intervened and took a few representatives inside.
ThePrint also reached MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar for comment via WhatsApp. This report will be updated if and when response is received.
What the ABC handbook says
The ABC Rules, established under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, mandate a very meticulous process of sterilisation under the ABC programme. Stray dogs are supposed to be picked up, tagged, their exact pick-up location recorded using the 311 app. Once they have been sterilised and have completed the post-op recovery period, they are to be dropped back in their original territory.
The revised ABC module, or ABC handbook, was released by the Animal Welfare Board of India in February this year.
Some key rules in the handbook are—project in-charge must maintain daily updated records including details of capture of dogs (area, date/time, capturing squad members, dog descriptions), release information (date, time, location), mortality records, reproductive organ inspection records, and CCTV footage for the previous 30 days.
An ABC centre is also supposed to have a surgery room, a preparation room, and a recovery room. The operation theatre and preparation room are supposed to be adjacent.
When a dog is picked up, a tag, which is basically a thin, grey plastic collar, is put around its neck. This collar mentions a tag number that corresponds to information recorded by the centre about the dog’s gender, location from where it was picked up etc.
Speaking to ThePrint, Ayesha Christina Benn, mentioned earlier, said the video of the staffer placing organs in a bucket might be of the organ counting process, which is performed in every ABC centre. However, she questioned the method of storing the organs.
Post a sterilisation surgery, the removed reproductive organs, the ABC handbook states, are to be stored in 10 percent formaldehyde, at the ABC centre, and then counted for record-keeping.
Inside the Rohini Sector 27 ABC centre
The Sector 27 centre is located on a desolate street, next to a CNG pump. While the main gates open to a street, the building is surrounded by vacant land with a dense layer of grass and weeds.
The centre has a ground plus two floors, as well as a terrace. On entering the building, one faces a huge empty hall, with rooms both on the left and right. The lights and fans in this section were either switched off or not functional.
Towards the end of this hall, on the left, was a tiled, empty room. Speaking to ThePrint, Benn said it is this room where sterilisation surgeries are supposed to be carried out—it is completely tiled so it can be easily wiped with disinfectant to maintain a sterile environment, as the ABC handbook specifies.
However, two steel surgery tables were instead in an adjacent room. A few syringes were placed on a table across the room. None of the rooms were marked to specify their purpose.
Right opposite the entrance to the centre, was a dark passage leading to two rooms where the dogs were kept in kennels. Some kennels had two dogs, some had one, some had three. At the entrance was a massive pot, used to cook the dogs’ meals.
The two floors above the ground floor were empty. Some of the rooms on this floor were being used for storage.
‘Missing tags, thuds & shrieks’
Delhi Animal Welfare Board member Jesudoss, who entered the centre late evening, said a lot of the dogs kept in the kennels did not have tags around their necks. “Similarly, some of the kennels had tags on the bars, while others didn’t. In some cases, the number of dogs in the kennels did not match the number on the bar tags. For example, if a kennel tag said 3 dogs, there were 2 dogs inside.”
He further said that most of the food bowls were empty or half empty. “They didn’t let me see the medicines, or check the fridge, or the autoclave area where surgery instruments are kept.”
“I saw a small skull that looked like a dog’s, right at the front of the centre, towards the right,” he said.
Meanwhile, Damkewala, who entered the centre around 1-2 am, said a lot of the food bowls were full, and some were half-eaten. “We had heard that some college students had been visiting the Rohini centre for the last three days, asking to see the dogs picked up from their localities but not being allowed. On Friday, we were packing up and about to go home after the Supreme Court order when we heard dogs are being beaten up, killed at this ABC centre and that volunteers there need help.”
She added, “I also spoke to a few local people, who were watching the protests from afar. They said they have heard thuds, followed by dogs shrieking, from within the centre.”
“I have been to shelters before but I found this one very fishy. Something very suspicious about the place,” she further said, adding that there were “empty alcohol bottles lying around in the building”.
Asked about the skeletal remains found near the centre, Dr Rajeev Kumar, the vet at the Rohini centre said people in the locality also dump dogs in the area. He said no one was harming dogs inside the centre.
The protest outside the Rohini centre continued till the early hours of Saturday. Benn told ThePrint that when she was leaving the premises, a few people surrounded her car, demanding “evidence” of the wrongdoings inside.
It was only in the morning that the protesters began to disperse, still demanding that the dogs inside be released, now that the Supreme Court has guaranteed their freedom, for now.
Inputs from Mrinalini Dhyani
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