Bombay HC backs safe, regulated feeding of indie dogs
Stopping feeding at non-designated spots not a criminal offence
A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sandesh Patil quashed a criminal case registered against a 42-year-old Pune resident who was accused of stopping a woman and her friends from feeding stray dogs at the gates of their housing society.
“Stopping a person from feeding stray dogs in a non-designated area cannot be said to amount to ‘restraint’ within the meaning of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,” the High Court observed.
In its judgment dated December 18, a copy of which was made available on Tuesday, the court said that preventing the feeding of dogs on footpaths, at entry and exit points of a housing society, and near school bus stops—where children board and alight—cannot be termed voluntary obstruction or wrongful restraint.
The court noted that the accused had merely informed the complainant and her friends that the location where they were feeding the dogs was not a designated feeding spot.
“Hence, we find that obstructing a person from feeding stray dogs in a non-designated area cannot be said to be wrongful restraint,” the bench said, referring to Supreme Court judgments on stray dog management and the Animal Birth Control Rules, which provide for designated feeding areas.
The High Court further held that the alleged obstruction lacked any criminal intent and was aimed at ensuring the safety of children living in the housing society. In view of past incidents of dog bites and attacks, the accused had stopped the complainant and her friends, an act which, the court said, could not by any stretch of imagination be termed illegal.
According to the First Information Report registered at the Hinjewadi police station in January, the complainant had gone to a residential society in the Hinjewadi area to feed stray dogs when the accused and other residents objected and allegedly stood in front of her car, preventing her from leaving.
Seeking quashing of the FIR, the accused submitted that there were over 40 stray dogs in the society, causing difficulties for residents, and that several instances of dog bites had occurred on the premises.
