Here is a curious news story that appeared in both Deccan Chronicle and Times of India yesterday:
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...According to Begumpet Police Inspector (Mr AY), R (21), who works at a car accessories shop in Ranigunj and resides in Patigadda, invited three of his friends, S (21), A (21), and J (24), for a party at his house terrace on Friday night.
The party continued till 4 AM.
Meanwhile, a cat reportedly landed on the spot drawn by the food. R tried to shoo away the cat, but it kept coming back. Irritated, he went downstairs and got a toy pistol. He fired at the cat, but it managed to escape. The 'bullet' hit the window panes of a house of retired ASI, MAK. He had worked as ASI in Begumpet and retired last year.
Hearing the loud sound, the former policeman's family members were jolted out of their sleep.
On Saturday at around 7 AM, the retired ASI lodged a complaint at the Begumpet police station against R. Based on the complaint, police arrested four persons, R, S, A and J, and remanded them to judicial custody.
"We registered a case against the four persons under Section 336 (act endangering life and personal safety of others) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the IPC."
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This reminded me of another news story of a couple of years back:
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Thursday, April 2, 2009
Pet Rage Doggerel
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"A senior Punjab IPS Officer grabbed his security guard's AK-47 and emptied the entire 32-round magazine on two snarling stray dogs and ended up shooting his own gunman in his thigh trying to save his pet dog. He was booked for his cruelty to animals":
News item on page 8 DC April 2, 2009
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IPS Officer's Defense:
"A senior Punjab IPS Officer grabbed his security guard's AK-47 and emptied the entire 32-round magazine on two snarling stray dogs and ended up shooting his own gunman in his thigh trying to save his pet dog. He was booked for his cruelty to animals":
News item on page 8 DC April 2, 2009
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IPS Officer's Defense:
They tried to kill my dog, they did;
I shot the mutts with his gun, I did;
My dog I saved as I wished, I did;
The poor cur lost his head and thigh, He did!
I shot the mutts with his gun, I did;
My dog I saved as I wished, I did;
The poor cur lost his head and thigh, He did!
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Note the following points common to both stories:
1. In both the cases, Policemen are involved. It would be worth pondering if the cases would have resulted in arrests otherwise. The matter would have possibly been settled out of court amicably.
2. It is a matter of cats and dogs... poor chumps.
3. In both the cases, the pellet or bullet unfortunately went awry and hit the wrong party. If it happened that the cat or the dogs alone got killed, the matter would have ended there. And no one would have cared.
4. Just look at the Sections of the IPC that were invoked. In the first case, there was no mention of cruelty to the feline. It was a case of cruelty to the retired ASI; and it was not as if he was the more aggrieved party. He just lost his sleep for a few hours. The cat certainly would have been frightened out of his wits and stopped eating thereafter.
On the other hand, in the second case, the criminal was booked for cruelty to animals while the injured party was much higher in the animal kingdom: viz. a poor and innocent Security Guard.
5. In both the cases the cub reporters' fortunate beat was the criminal court and they had an easy scoop (they were surely not present at the scene of the crime before or during or after the event):
It is said that dog biting man is no news but man biting dog is.
It is also said that a kid asked his papa:
"How come there is always just enough news every day, without fail, to precisely fill the 18 pages of our paper?"
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