4 min readJammuUpdated: Aug 11, 2026 05:53 PM IST
On Monday morning, as children in Kotranka block of Rajouri district in Jammu were getting ready to head to school, a notice dropped from the district administration. Announcing that nearly two dozen schools would remain closed for the day, the administration ordered deployment of police and CRPF personnel, along with an executive magistrate and village defence guards (VDGs).
The reason behind the high-level order was not a VIP visit or even a security threat in the border district. The decision was taken to capture stray dogs, which had allegedly bitten nine people over the last two days.
The directive, which affected both government and private schools across over half-a-dozen panchayats in the block, came from Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Kotranka, Dil Mir Choudhary, after six people with dog bite injuries landed in a government health facility on Sunday, followed by three more on Monday.
One of the dogs was reportedly killed by a local villager with a stick on Monday evening after the canine attacked another resident.
Referring to injuries to nine people after being bitten by “rabid/ferocious stray dogs” since Sunday, the ADC’s order read that these dogs “are reportedly still roaming freely in the area and continue to pose a serious threat to the safety of the general public, particularly school-going children, thereby causing fear and panic among the local residents”.
Ordering closure of schools, the ADC asked the SHO, Kandi Police Station, “to deploy adequate number of police personnel wherever required, besides coordinating with CRPF and VDGs/local representatives for safe capture/trapping of suspected rabid/ferocious at the earliest, strictly in accordance with the applicable rules and animal welfare protocols”.
He also directed the Veterinary Assistant Surgeon (VAS) in the Animal Husbandry Department to make necessary arrangements for vaccination of stray dogs in the affected area, besides coordinating with the police for safe catching/holding the dogs for vaccination and veterinary examination.
Story continues below this ad
In addition, Choudhary asked the Tehsildar, Kotranka, to “deploy a magistrate to remain present at the site and coordinate with the VAS and the police team during the operation so as to ensure effective coordination and maintenance of law and order’’.
‘Most urgent’ matter
Asking the officers concerned to take the matter as “most urgent in the interest of public safety’’, the ADC asked them to maintain close coordination and take immediate preventive measures to ensure that no further person is attacked or bitten by suspected rabid dogs.
Local villagers told The Indian Express that schools in six panchayats, including Kotranka, Mohra A and Mohra B, Jaglanu, Kandi Lower and Kandi Upper, besides Khadyol, remained closed both on Monday and Tuesday. The ADC, though, said the closure was announced as a precautionary measure in view of adverse weather forecasts by the Meteorological Department.
When contacted, Choudhary, quoting local police, said that a stray dog which was behind all the attacks on villagers over the last two days died on Monday night after it fell into a local stream.
Story continues below this ad
An ex-serviceman and a social activist in the area, however, put the number of such dogs at three.
“The problem of these dogs has become acute as they get easy cover in standing maize crops in the area,” he added.