Court summons a dog ....... 9 month old charged with attempted murder ....

In legal parlance,  a summon is a legal document issued by a court (a judicial summons) or by an administrative agency of government (an administrative summons) for various purposes.  A Summons is a process initiated  by a Court, calling upon a person to appear before a Magistrate. It is used for the purpose of notifying an individual of his legal obligation to appear before the Magistrate as a response to a violation of the law. It is addressed to a defendant in a legal proceeding. Typically, the summons will announce to the person to whom it is directed that a legal proceeding has been started against that person, and that a file has been started in the court records. The summons announces a date and time on which the person must appear in court. A person who is summoned is legally bound to appear before the court on the given date and time.  Wilful disobedience is liable to be punished under Section 174 of IPC. It is a ground for contempt of court.

There can be some funny situations too..... in Apr 2014, a baby was charged with attempted murder, threatening Police and interfering with State affairs – he was not alone, in the company of father and grandfather as part of a mob protesting against gas cuts and price increases; the mob stoned police and gas company workers out to collect overdue bills.  It was in Lahore that the baby cried while his fingerprints were taken by a court official. Internet was ripe on news of the incident and photos of the baby calmly sitting on his grandfather’s lap, drinking bottle of milk after being given bail.   Later, a Pakistani Court threw out  charges of attempted murder against the  nine-month-old baby, in a case that highlighted endemic flaws in the country's legal system and provoked widespread ridicule.

There are stray dogs and there are pet dogs – given great care and spent so much – for some a dog is closer to a member of the family – but in the incident reported widely in US Press, the dog is also a member of the jury.  Going by the reports, New Jersey resident IV Griner probably would not have been too thrilled to receive a jury duty letter – if she were to be human. IV (pronounced Ivy) is a five-year-old German shepherd brought up by the family of Barrett Griner IV and his wife in Bridgetown. Mr Griner named his black and tan pup the name IV Griner as a play on his own name, Barrett Griner the fourth, which he writes using Roman numerals.  He is quoted as saying ‘She’s a female, so I named her “IV” without the “Y” as sort of a play on words.

 When the owners opened the mail box, they were too surprised to find a letter from the Cumberland County Clerk of Courts apparently addressed to the dog  Griner summoning  to report for jury duty. The dog’s name on her vet record appears the same as it does on the summons. Later it was revealed to be a Computer glitch that was to blame in calling the German Shepherd to report for jury duty by the Cumberland County Judiciary.  It was revealed that the Court did not actually request that a dog serve on a jury,  but computer probably misread Griner's numerical suffix IV as his first name. Typically, someone getting such an erroneous jury summons can call the court offices and the error will be fixed; though Griner, 40, who works as a treatment plant operator at the local water department probably did not make one.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

2^nd Sept. 2014.