kochi in yet another case of local selfgoverning body taking law into their own hands the administration of kalady grama panchayat culled 22 stray dogs on wednesday the kalady police have registered a case against 17 members of the panchayat administration including its president and vicepresident who led the illegal culling exercise the culled dogs were later buried in a vacant land by the panchayat the pit used to bury the bodies was dug using an excavatorthe mass killing was executed by the panchayat administration with the support of stray dog eradication group though the groups leader jose maveli stayed away from wednesdays culling two women members of the group namely sofia and philomena were presentvicepresident of the panchayat biju manickamangalam said that the administration had taken a unanimous decision to kill stray dogs that were a threat to women and children in their areawe decided to kill dangerous and ferocious stray dogs based on petitions filed by the public students and children there have been repeated instances of dogs attacking people and domestic animals students of sree sankaracharya university of sanskrit had also complained about the stray dog menace we have killed dogs that were shown by the public the killing was not meant to challenge the rule of law he saidthe dogs were killed by men led by varappuzha native ranjan who has been assisting the stray dog eradication group at various places biju said that the panchayat administration may kill the ferocious stray dogs in the coming days on september 19 authorities of chengamanad panchayat and stray dog eradication group had killed 24 stray dogs the group behind the culling included 18 representatives from the panchayat administration including its president who had sought mavelis help though the nedumbassery police had arrested maveli in the case he was granted bail latera case was registered against 17 persons under sections 428 mischief by killing or maiming animal of the value of ten rupees 429 mischief by killing or maiming cattle etc of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees of the ipc and 11 treating animals cruelly of prevention of cruelty to animals act the police said that they may add the names of dog killers employed by the panchayat in the firsally kannan honorary member of the animal welfare board of india said that a petition will be filed before high court against the stray dog eradication group and dog killer ranjan for repeated killing of stray dogsthey assisted the local selfgoverning bodies in culling strays illegallylocal selfgoverning bodies are taking law into their hands by culling dogs rather than adopting animal birth control abc measures we will take up the issue before chief minister to end killing by local bodies said sally