And finally… bird-brained cops cage fowl-mouthed parrot

The parrot, name “Hariyal”, was said to have been trained by his owner Suresh Sakharkar for two years to squawk a stream of obscenities at the sight of his 85-year-old stepmother, Janabai.

She said, “On seeing me, the parrot uses bad language and foul words. That is why I have complained thrice in the last two years. Police called me, Suresh and the parrot to the police station.”

The woman claimed her stepson trained the parrot to abuse her because of an ongoing land dispute between the two families.

Hariyal remained tight-beaked during interrogation, however.

Police Inspector P S Dongre told New Delhi Television Limited: “We watched the parrot carefully but it did not utter a word at the police station after being confronted by the complainant.”

Despite the lack of corroboration, officers decided the woman’s “harassed mental condition” was enough reason to remove the allegedly foul-mouthed parrot from its owner and hand him over to forestry officials, according to NDTV.