BHU Professor Apologises to Family Four Days After Dog Attack; Child Remains in Trauma Centre

A Banaras Hindu University professor and her husband met the family of 11-year-old Abhinav on Sunday, four days after the boy suffered severe head and facial injuries in an incident linked by his family to the professor’s pet dog. Professor Shraddha Singh apologised to the parents and said she would not keep a dog again, according to the latest local report.

Abhinav remained admitted at the BHU Trauma Centre. His family said he had shown some improvement but was still unable to speak and was finding it difficult to eat. Doctors had placed about 50 stitches on injuries to his face and head after surgery. The child’s medical condition and privacy should remain central; images of his wounds should not be circulated for curiosity.

During the meeting, Singh showed the family the dog’s vaccination card and said the animal had received its vaccines on schedule. Vaccination records are medically relevant, but they do not replace the treatment protocol decided by doctors after a suspected bite. The hospital team must assess exposure, wound care and any post-exposure vaccination required for the patient.

The apology followed an earlier audio statement in which the professor disputed the family’s version. She had claimed the boy was injured after being hit by a motorcycle and falling, rather than bitten by her dog, and said CCTV showed him running and falling. Abhinav’s relatives said he later typed on a phone that a brown dog attacked him near a parked car. These accounts conflict and should be tested against original footage, medical evidence and witness statements.

BHU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi visited the Trauma Centre with senior doctors and sought an update on the child’s treatment. The university has directed the Chief Proctor’s office to examine the incident. The family has asked for campus CCTV to be preserved, witnesses to be interviewed and responsibility fixed through a high-level inquiry. BHU officials have also indicated that rules concerning animals on campus will be enforced more strictly.

The follow-up matters because an apology and an investigation serve different purposes. A personal meeting may acknowledge the family’s distress, but it does not decide the disputed sequence or any legal responsibility. Nor should public anger expand into harassment of the professor or indiscriminate hostility towards dogs.

BHU’s residential colonies need workable rules for leashes, gates, vaccination records and complaints about aggressive animals. Reports of previous incidents, if any, should be documented rather than traded as rumour. The university must now protect the child’s care, secure evidence and publish the outcome of its inquiry. Until then, the professor’s earlier denial, the family’s allegation and Sunday’s apology all remain parts of an unresolved record.