(EXCLUSIVE)  Actor Tinnu Anand: "I'm 80 Years Old, And If Any Dog Attacks Me, I Have Every Right To Defend Myself"

Tinnu Anand, veteran Bollywood actor-director, found himself at the centre of intense social media scrutiny after a WhatsApp message, in which he threatened to harm stray dogs near his residential society in Versova, Mumbai, was shared online. The message had read, “Have come back after a horrifying shoot to be greeted by terrifying dogs barking and not knowing who to bite next... Challenge taken. Have a hockey stick to face them... am warning all dog lovers hereon... take them home OR then face my wrath... my society is given advance notice."


The backlash

Following the message, a resident of the society approached the Versova Police Station regarding the matter. The message soon went viral on social media, especially after animal welfare group Pal Foundation shared a screenshot of the message on their official Instagram account, which prompted netizens to criticize the veteran actor left, right and centre.

Here are some of the reactions: 

"Shame on you Tinnu Anand," wrote one.
"Being a ‘paid performer’ doesn’t make him any special. Rules are same for everyone. This hostile mentality is dangerous, immediate strict action needs to be taken against him," wrote another under PAL Foundation's post.

TV actress Shweta Gulati also commented, writing, "Had such massive respect for this man, which is lost today. What a fool. Let’s pray he gets beaten soon."
And then there were some who in truly face palm worthy moments were writing how he was also a ‘villain in real life’.
We contacted Tinnu to get his side of the story, and this is what he told us.

Tinnu Anand’s reaction

“This is absolutely what I meant because my daughter has broken her wrist and she's been treated since the last one month and it cost me ₹90,000 for her being operated twice now. Her pet dog was attacked by 3 stray dogs in our society and in trying to save her dog she fell and broke her wrist. I want to talk to these dog lovers. If they doubt these dogs so much they feed them, they look after them, then why not put a leash on them? Ask the convenience store near the society- his delivery man has been attacked twice and now they have stopped delivering because they don’t want to be attacked by the dogs,” Tinnu told us.

“I'm 80 years old and if any dog attacks me, I have every right to defend myself. That is what I meant. That is what these people should have understood anyway. Everyone's got diuretic fingers, you know, moving towards the mobiles, typing away messages, which is fine with me because I'm ignoring it completely because I know what I have written. This is not the first case where dogs have attacked. There's so many cases when these incidents have happened,” he said

“It's not to attack dogs, it's just to defend myself and I have every right to. These people are quoting the Supreme Court order. Where does the Supreme Court say that you can't defend yourself against a dog attacking you?” Tinnu explained.

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