Adorn Care & Upkeep Stray Dogs Responsibly At Dog Shelters Or Pounds: Supreme Court Urges Genuine Stray Dog Lovers
The Supreme Court observed that the Judiciary must not assume or take on the colouration of the prevailing popular sentiments of the time, for its role is not to echo the passions of the moment but to uphold the enduring principles of justice, conscience and equity.
The Supreme Court while hearing the Suo-Moto Writ Petition on the issue of dog-bites reported in Delhi and the areas on the outskirts, has urged genuine stray dog lovers to adorn the care and upkeep of the stray dogs responsibly at the dog shelters or pounds.
The Court urged thus while directing the State of NCT of Delhi, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to pick up all stray dogs from the localities and public places in Delhi and put them in shelter homes.
The two-Judge Bench comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan remarked, “At the same time, being conscious about the genuine love and care towards stray dogs that many stakeholders of the public share, we urge them to come forward and become a part of this exercise. To adorn the care and upkeep of the stray dogs responsibly at the dog shelters / pounds. To volunteer their valuable time and resources towards the proper functioning of such shelters / pounds and assisting the concerned authorities therein.”
The Bench observed that the Judiciary must not assume or take on the colouration of the prevailing popular sentiments of the time, for its role is not to echo the passions of the moment but to uphold the enduring principles of justice, conscience and equity.
Advocate Gaurav Agrawal was appointed as the Amicus and Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta appeared on behalf of the National Capital Region (NCR).
Background
Amicus provided some important information to the Court regarding the stray dog-bites. SG also assisted and submitted that stern action needs to be taken to combat the situation. He further submitted that the Government of NCT of Delhi and all other authorities of the NCR shall make all possible endeavours to ensure that the menace of dog bites is taken care of at the earliest and appropriate action in the right direction is also taken at the earliest.
Court’s Observations
The Supreme Court in view of the concerning situation, said, “What we have been able to gather after hearing both the learned counsel is that the situation is extremely grim. Immediate steps need be taken to take care of the menace of dog bites leading to rabies.”
The Court noted that the exercise that it proposes to undertake, is not to be performed in a casual manner and the burning issue that it has embarked upon is not driven by a momentary impulse.
“On the contrary, it is only after the deepest of deliberations, and having reached the firm conclusion about the systematic failure of the concerned authorities over the past two decades to address an issue that strikes at the heart of public safety, that we have decided to take the matter in our hands. We have, over a considerable period of time, examined the prevailing circumstances, heard the voices of those who have been directly affected and reflected upon a disturbing pattern of dog bites in this country. Now is not the time for any resistance or hesitation born of complacency”, it added.
The Court emphasised that it is a time for decisive and collective action and to confront the realities of our society and if we fail to act with urgency, we risk allowing yet another two decades to slip into the ledger of neglect, leaving future generations to inherit the same problems and the same dangers.
“We are conscious and sensitive of co-existence. The idea behind co-existence is not the existence of one’s life at the cost of the other. In the case in hand, we are attempting to flag the experience of those who use the streets daily. Streets should not prove to be vulnerable places. Among a bundle of concerns, we are at pains to take cognizance of the experiences of visually impaired persons, young children, elderly persons, people from humble background who are not able to afford even a day’s meal, let alone the medical expenses”, it further observed.
The Court took note of the fact that the visually impaired persons are at the highest risk of dog bites as their primary support, their canes, are seen as threats by the dogs and young children are susceptible to dog bites due to which parents find it very difficult to allow their children to navigate on streets on their own.
“We have come across concerns of elderly persons being attacked by rambunctious dogs. We are not casting aspersions, but there is no way one can identify or classify between a rabies-carrying dog and others. More particularly, the situation is worse when it comes to persons who are forced to sleep on the streets. It is painstaking to note the pangs of such persons who neither have the knowledge of the consequences of dog bites nor have any precautionary or post-exposure measures accessible to them”, it also said.
The Court, therefore, urged all to adopt and give dogs a shelter in their homes.
“However, we do not ascribe to the virtue signalling of all those who share love and concern for the animals. A virtual divide is being attempted to be created between ‘animal lovers’ and persons indifferent towards animals. But the heart of the problem remains unanswered, for all practical reasons”, it remarked.
Moreover, the Court clarified that the directions given by it, as a Court which functions for the welfare of the people, are both in the interest of humans as well as dogs.
Court’s Directions
The Court in such circumstances, as a part of immediate action, issued the following directions –
(I) The Government of NCT (National Capital Territory of Delhi), the MCD and the NDMC and authorities of NOIDA, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad shall at the earliest start picking up stray dogs from all localities, more particularly the vulnerable localities of the city as well as areas on the outskirts. How to do it, is for the authorities to look into. For this, if they have to create a force, they shall do it at the earliest. However, this should be the first and foremost exercise to make all localities within the State and its outskirts free of stray dogs.
(II) There should not be any lethargy or compromise in undertaking this exercise. If any individual or any organization comes in the way of forceful picking up of the stray dogs and rounding them up, and if it is reported to us, we shall proceed to take the strictest of actions against any such resistance which may be offered.
(III) Immediately create dog shelters/pounds and report to the Court the creation of such infrastructure all over the NCR, within a period of eight weeks.
(IV) The dog shelters/pounds should have sufficient personnel to sterilize, deworm and immunize stray dogs and also for looking after the stray dogs who would be detained there and not released on the streets/colonies/ public places. The dog shelters would be monitored by CCTV to ensure that no dogs are released or taken out.
(V) The Court made it clear to all authorities concerned and the personnels deployed at such shelters/pounds, that at no stage should these dogs be subjected to any mistreatment, cruelty or deplorable standards of care.
(VI) The Court further clarified that it would be open to the concerned authorities to decide the viability of implementing an adoption scheme in respect of the stray dogs that would be kept at the shelters/pounds, however, any such adoption must take place only after a careful consideration.
(VII) Since this is a progressive exercise i.e. the dog shelters would have to be increased over a period of time, authorities concerned shall begin by creating dog shelter(s) for say 5,000 dogs in the next six-eight weeks.
(VIII) All the authorities shall maintain records of daily stray dogs captured as-well the number of dogs housed in shelters homes/dog pounds.
(IX) The abovementioned records shall be maintained regularly by the concerned authorities.
(X) Authorities shall create helpline number within a period of one week so that all cases of dog bites are immediately reported.
(XI) The stray dogs shall be captured, sterilized, dewormed and immunized as required by Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, and shall not be released under any circumstances.
(XII) The authorities concerned shall inform the victim of the medical authorities so that the victim is treated immediately.
(XIII) Availability of rabies vaccines is a major concern especially genuine vaccine. The Authorities concerned, more particularly, the Government of NCT of Delhi shall put detailed information about the places where such vaccines are available, full stock of the vaccines and the number of persons who report for treatment on monthly basis.
Accordingly, the Apex Court directed to notify this matter once again with an appropriate Status Report along with all the intervention application(s) after a period of four weeks on top of the Board.
Cause Title- In Re: “City Hounded By Strays, Kids Pay Price” (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 977)
Appearance:
SG Tushar Mehta, Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, AORs Purti Gupta, Udian Sharma, Supriya Juneja, Vivek Sharma, Advocates Praveen Swarup, Rohit Swarup, Devesh Maurya, Ameet Singh, Henna George, Sunidhi Sah, Pooja Agarwal, Vishesh Sapra, Sahil Saraswat, Harsha Sadhwani, Esha Dutta, Shaalini Agarwal, Karl P Rustomkhan, Parv Arora, Siddharth Pandey, and Vijay Kumar Sharma.
