Nashik Police Book Sena (UBT) Activist Over Puppy Protest; Aaditya Thackeray Seeks Apology

Police in Maharashtra's Nashik district have registered a case against a Shiv Sena (UBT) activist and his associates after a group entered a municipal officer's chamber and released two puppies from sacks onto his desk, officials said. The protest was aimed at drawing attention to the stray dog problem in the area.

According to police, the case names Vikram Randhave, a district youth wing functionary, and others. The charges relate to obstructing a public servant from carrying out official duty, along with a case concerning animal cruelty, as the puppies had been carried in sacks. The group, identified as Yuva Sena (UBT) activists, entered the office of Dheeraj Bhamre, Chief Officer of the Niphad Nagar Panchayat.

A video of the incident circulating on social media shows Randhave taking the two puppies out of the sacks and placing them on the desk of the official, who appears taken aback. In the clip, Randhave is heard telling Bhamre that the group had been raising the stray dog issue for six months without a response.

Bhamre told the protesters that the civic body had already floated work tenders to tackle the problem. The assurance did not satisfy Randhave, who warned of more demonstrations and said that if action was not taken, he would return with more dogs as well as children and women affected by the issue. He also placed a garland made of currency notes on the official's desk.

Randhave claimed that more than 400 stray dogs live within the Nagar Panchayat limits and that over 100 residents are bitten every month, describing the situation as a threat to children, senior citizens and motorists, especially during the Ganesh festival. No arrests have been made so far, a police official said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray said in a post on X that he was disturbed by the way the puppies were handled. He noted that a video had come to his attention from a Yuva Sena office bearer in Niphad who had protested against more than 470 dog bites in the city over five months and what he called the inaction of civic authorities.

Thackeray said that while the civic body's failure to curb dog bites and shift the animals to proper shelters with adequate care could be questioned, the protest should not have involved handling the dogs in such a manner. He added that he had asked the office bearer to apologise and to avoid such protests in future, and that the latter had apologised and promised not to repeat the act.