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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court...

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court that the state would file its reply within a week in the matter.   Indian-origin Dr. Patil, hailing from Jalgaon, is facing a criminal case here for posting allegedly objectionable content involving Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on social media.   After his posts on a FB page, ‘Shehar Vikas Aghadi’, a Mumbai BJP media cell functionary lodged a criminal complaint following which the NM Joshi Marg Police registered a FIR (Dec. 18, 2025) and subsequently issued a LoC against Dr. Patil, restricting his travels.   The complainant Nikhil Bhamre filed the complaint in December 2025, contending that Dr. Patil on Dec. 14 posted offensive content intended to spread ‘disinformation and falsehoods’ about the BJP and its leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   Among others, the police invoked BNSS Sec. 353(2) that attracts a 3-year jail term for publishing or circulating statements or rumours through electronic media with intent to promote enmity or hatred between communities.   Based on the FIR, Dr. Patil was detained and questioned for 15 hours when he arrived with his wife from London at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Jan. 10), and again prevented from returning to Manchester, UK on Jan. 19 in view of the ongoing investigations.   On Wednesday (Jan. 21) Dr. Patil recorded his statement before the Mumbai Police and now he has moved the high court. Besides seeking quashing of the FIR and the LoC, he has sought removal of his name from the database imposing restrictions on his international travels.   Through his Senior Advocate Sudeep Pasbola, the medico has sought interim relief in the form of a stay on further probe by Crime Branch-III and coercive action, restraint on filing any charge-sheet during the pendency of the petition and permission to go back to the UK.   Pasbola submitted to the court that Dr. Patil had voluntarily travelled from the UK to India and was unaware of the FIR when he landed here. Sathe argued that Patil had appeared in connection with other posts and was not fully cooperating with the investigators.

When Mumbai tried to relocate stray dogs

Mumbai: The Supreme Court's judgement of shunting the stray dogs out Delhi-NCR limits has brought back memories of a similar initiative tried by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 2007-08 of moving the stray dogs out of Mumbai and shifting them to dedicated dog shelters.


The brainchild of the then Mumbai Deputy Mayor Vidya Thakur who is currently legislator from the Goregaon assembly constituency, the proposal stressed on 'Stray Dogs Free Mumbai'.


Faced with an increasing number of dog bites cases, Thakur had mooted a proposal and written to the then state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh asking for 50 acres of land in the Vasai-Virar belt out- side the city limits.


"I was getting lots of dog bites complaints and also people dying of rabies. Hence, I worked out an idea where strays can be shifted out and housed in dedicated shelters. This would have ensured both human beings and strays living in harmony," said Thakur.


There were an estimated 45,000 dog bites which took place in 2006 of which 21 people had died in Mumbai.


"We had identified the location and had begun talks with the villagers to take them into confidence on this project. We even begun talks with the state government. However, the proposal then fizzled out after I left my chair," she added.


The apex court on Monday ordered authorities across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) to round up all stray dogs within eight weeks, house them in dedicated dog shelters and ensure none are released back onto the streets.


However, animal activists are shocked and call the whole order as shocking. “Dogs are terrestrial animals and it will be disastrous if they are moved to some other places,” said an activist who declined to come on record.


“This whole issue will be a logistical nightmare. First the authorities have to get the land and create infrastructure suitable for the strays. After that, the authorities have to ensure feeding and medical facilities. This is a mammoth task and in no way completed in a month,” said another animal activist.


For decades, the BMC had been rounding the stray dogs and killing them. However, this stopped in 1994 after the animal activists moved the Bombay High Court who ordered the BMC to sterilise these strays and control their population. The BMC claimed in its survey that over the last 29 years, 4.30 lakh stray dogs have been sterilised. This has resulted in reduction in the stray dogs' population to 90,757 from 95,172 in the last decade.

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