A 21-year-old student in Kanpur was left with severe facial injuries after being mauled by stray dogs while returning home from college. The shocking incident took place on August 20 in Shyam Nagar, where stray dogs and monkeys were reportedly fighting before suddenly turning on the young woman.
The victim, identified as Vaishnavi Sahu, a final-year BBA student at Allen House Ruma College, was dragged to the ground by three dogs that viciously bit her face and body. Her right cheek was torn apart, splitting into two sections, while her nose and other parts of her body bore multiple bite marks. Despite her desperate attempts to escape, the animals overpowered her again and threw her onto the road, reported India Today.
Local residents rushed to her rescue after hearing her screams, using sticks to chase the dogs away. By then, Vaishnavi was bleeding heavily. Her family members soon arrived and took her to Kanshiram Hospital, where doctors had to stitch her cheek and nose with 17 sutures.
Her uncle, Ashutosh, recounted the horrifying ordeal: “Vaishnavi, the daughter of my late brother Virendra Swaroop Sahu, was returning from college when this terrifying incident happened.”
Family members said the young student is now struggling to eat or even move her mouth. “She cannot eat anything, nor move her mouth. Somehow, we are giving her liquids through a straw,” they shared.
Expressing anguish, the family demanded urgent government intervention. “The government must do something about these dogs. Either catch them and take them away or keep them in shelters. But they should be removed from the streets so that no one else’s daughter or daughter-in-law suffers like this,” they said.
The attack comes at a time when the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the sterilisation of stray dogs and their relocation to shelters has sparked nationwide debate, with concerns over both public safety and animal welfare.