On Wednesday morning, protestors gathered around a private bus, which was just entering the Sasthamangalam bus stop in Thiruvananthapuram. Some of them were demanding that the bus staff step out of the vehicle, while others dialled local authorities. 

They were not gathered to protest over a bus delay or other transport-related issues. In a rare instance, the people had blocked the bus as it had run over a 3-year-old stray dog, which was sleeping in the area. 

The incident took place around 9.30 am on Wednesday. The stray had been sleeping in front of the bus, which was heading to East Fort. 

When the driver started the bus, several passengers, shopkeepers and passersby alerted him about the sleeping dog nearby. However, he allegedly ignored the warnings and accelerated the bus, running over the mongrel’s spine and crippling her.  

"People's attention diverted to the badly injured dog, which had crawled away from the spot, yelping. The bus, in the meantime, used the opportunity to drive away from the stop, with the passengers on board. People tried to stop the bus but it fled,” says Bindhu Sreekumar, Sasthamangalam’s ward councillor, who reached the spot after the incident. 

While the crowd waited at the stop for the bus to return after its trip, the ward councillor called for the People for Animals (PFA) ambulance services to rescue the injured stray. She also informed the police about the incident. 

“The PFA ambulance reached at 10:30 am. Around the same time, the bus reached the stop after completing its trip. On seeing the bus, protestors ran towards the vehicle and surrounded it. They forced the driver and conductor to alight from the bus and made them accompany the injured dog to the PFA hospital. Some wanted to beat up the two but the police had reached the spot by then,” Bindhu recalls. 

The staff were forced to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 to treat the stray, while the police took the bus into custody. 

According to Rajeev S, PFA’s animal catcher who does rescue operations and drives the ambulance, the protestors refused to release the bus as they sought justice for the dog.

“The injured dog was yelping badly and we took it to PFA’s veterinary hospital in Valiyarathala. The bus staff also came with us and paid for the dog’s treatment. However, the three-year-old could not be saved due to critical injuries and the doctor had to put her to sleep by Wednesday evening,” Rajeev says. 

A receipt of the hospital expenses which were paid by the bus staff was submitted to the station. It was only after this that the officers released the bus to the driver and conductor.

No case has been registered in the incident so far. The stray was among the dogs that were spayed by the Thiruvananthapuram corporation to reduce the proliferation of strays.