Islamabad: In a first case of its kind, a woman car driver has been booked for running over a cat on a busy road by the Defence Housing Authority of Karachi.

The Darkhashan Police have registered a case against her under Section 429 of the Pakistan Penal Code (relating with causing harm to animals).

The issue was taken up by a chartered accountant of Karachi Faiq Ali Jagirani who was witness to the incident. The local police initially refused to register the case, but after the CA persisted and approached a local court, the police had to register it on the directions of the local court.

In his statement to the police, Ali Jagirani said that on February 1, 2019 when he was on way to his office at around 1pm he saw a white-colour car driven by a woman run over a cat in the middle of the road.

The cat was badly hurt. The CA said he ran towards the woman driver and suggested they both take the wounded car to a nearby vet. However, the driver turned down his suggestion saying she would ask someone to remove the animal from the road. He then tried to get help by people of the locality, but most of them had gone to offer Friday prayers.

While talking to Gulf News here on Monday, Ali Jagirani said the animal died after a while and the woman driver went her way. However, her insensitive response hurt him. “When I returned to my office from the scene of the ‘road accident’ I realised I should do something as a responsible citizen and bring this matter to the notice of police.”

He went to the police station and called for registration of a case and later got it done with the help of the court orders. To a question whether he would follow the case, Ali said he had done his part by lodging a complaint with the police and submitting his statement before the civil court. “Now let’s see what the police will do in this matter.”

However, he said he would extend all cooperation with the police and court whenever needed.

Ali Jagirani who has done his Masters from Ireland and is currently a chartered accountant in Karachi said he was witness to how animals are treated with affection and love and how they are taken care of in civilised societies.

“In the UK and other civilised countries, entire traffic comes to a standstill to give way to a duck that is crossing the road along with her ducklings,” he said.

He vowed that he would make an example of this case and is going to launch a campaign to set up animal justice courts to penalise and punish all those who treat animals badly or leave them to die on roads after accidents.

Ali Jagirani said his two sons, Hosh Bahadur Jagirani and Tabassum Bahadur Jagirani, became his inspiration. They are only are 6 and 7 years old yet they have supported him in this cause and they too believe something should be done to rescue animals from reckless drivers.

In Pakistan, there are no statistics available on animals — dogs, cats, donkeys and other small and big animals — who die annually in road accidents. However, it is feared the figure is in thousands. Highways, roads, even the streets have virtually turned into killing fields for the animals, particularly cats and dogs.

According to animal rights activist, Safwan Shahab, in Pakistan, most times animals’ deaths in road accidents go unnoticed.

If law as well as common citizens take up the issue of such deaths, there will be a drastic reduction in such deaths, said Safwan.