Man's best friend?
One of Delhi’s most prestigious universities, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is caught up in a storm over the killing of a female dog by one of its students.
Yarsonso, a 30-year-old fifth year PhD student from Nagaland is enrolled in the School of Social Sciences. According to news reports (see here, here and here), Yaronso bludgeoned a dog to death in his hostel room on the night of July 8. The incident came to light when fellow hostel residents heard yelping sounds coming out of his room and knocked to enquire. When the door opened, they saw the dog lying in a pool of blood. Yaronso (and two guests, also present in the room) had apparently beaten it to death with an iron rod; though Yaronso later claimed it was in self-defence.
Hostel authorities weren’t buying that arguement. The university’s joint registrar declared Yaronso was ’unfit to live in the hostel’ and he was asked to quit and pay a Rs 2,000 fine.
Not good enough, shouted animal rights activists. Citizens for the Welfare and Protection of Animals filed a police report while Citizens for Animals, led by lawyer Anjali Sharma asked, “What is JNU? A centre of learning or a depraved, lawless, slaughterhouse?”
But the debate has also taken another turn: that of the culinary habits of the North-East. Writing for the July 14 edition of the Deccan Chronicle, animal rights activist Ambika Shukla in an article headlined ‘Murder Most Foul’ claimed, “Apparently North-Eastern students at JNU regularly lynch and barbecue dogs.”
Now, it’s a well-known fact that some Naga tribes do eat dog meat but eating dog meat is not illegal in India. Others, mainly from the North-East, are offended by the stereotyping. Writing to the editor of the Deccan Chronicle in response to Ambika Shukla’s article, Utpal Borajpuri, a journalist saw the article as “yet another example of the superiority complex of some people of ‘mainland’ India vis-a-vis North-East.” Pranab Bora, editor of the Assamese edition of the Sunday Indian joined ranks with Borajpuri and questioned the culinary habits of people in the plains (lovers of tandoori chicken and other delicacies) and the hypocrisy of ‘do-gooders’ in selectively seeking out the culinary traditions of some people in some parts of the North-East.
Meanwhile, on Monday, as the Indian Parliament got into a heated debate to make or break the government, animal rights activists, professors and students came together at Delhi’s official protest spot: Jantar Mantar to hold what is now every protestor’s favourite rally: the candlelight march. Their demand? Yaronso be banned from submitting his PhD thesis anywhere in India or abroad. They also want a comprehensive animal protection movement. And for good measure, they want Yaronso arrested. Social activist Swami Agnivesh gave Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote about nations and women a new twist by saying: “The health of a nation can be judged by the way it treats its animals.”
Safe to say, you haven’t heard the last word on this one.
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