‘India’s image is taking a beating’: Supreme Court slams states on stray dog menace

Taking strong exception to non-filing of affidavits in the stray dog menace case, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the chief secretaries of states and Union Territories, other than those of West Bengal and Telangana, to appear before it on November 3 to explain why compliance affidavits were not filed.

A three-judge Bench led by Justice Vikram Nath noted that only the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and states of West Bengal and Telangana have filed their compliance affidavits following its August 22 order.

The Bench – which also included Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice NV Anjaria -- slammed the other states and UTs for not filing compliance affidavits regarding the steps taken by them to implement the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.

Stating that its August 22 order contained everything, the Bench lamented that there was no representation on behalf of the defaulting states during the hearing despite notices having been issued to all states/UTs and the fact that the order was widely reported in the media.

"Didn't the officers read newspapers or social media? Haven't they read...even if they are not served they should have been here. All Chief Secretaries to be present here on November 3 ... We will hold court in an auditorium," the Bench said.

"Continuous incidents are happening and the image of the country is being shown as down in the eyes of foreign nations. We are also reading news reports," noted the Bench while hearing a suo motu PIL on stray dog menace in the country.

As an advocate referred to cruelty against dogs, the Bench shot back, "What about the cruelty towards humans?"

It also took exception to a large number of individuals and groups filing intervention applications in the matter.

"If all RWAs want to be parties... how many crores of parties we will have here before us. Make suggestions which are reasonable…" it said.

Taking cognisance of a news report about death of a six-year-old girl in the national capital due to rabies caused by stray dog bite, the Supreme Court on Monday commenced suo motu proceedings on the issue.

On August 11, a Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan had issued directions in the suo motu case titled ‘CITY HOUNDED BY STRAYS, KIDS PAY PRICE” to permanently relocate all canines from streets to shelters "at the earliest".

Describing the stray dog menace as "extremely grim", it had directed the Delhi Government, MCD, NDMC, NOIDA and Gurugram authorities to pick up strays from all localities at the earliest and put them in dog shelters.

The matter was assigned to the three-judge Bench on August 13 after some lawyers mentioned before CJI BR Gavai that the August 11 directions were in conflict with previous orders passed by other Benches and statutory provisions.

Modifying its August 11 directions to round up stray dogs in Delhi-NCR and send them to dog shelters with immediate effect, a three-judge Bench led by Justice Vikram Nath had on August 22 clarified that the canines can be released in the same area after being sterilised and immunised.

"Prohibition on release of strays shall be stayed. They shall be dewormed, vaccinated etc and sent back to the same area," it had said  clarifying that the earlier order for rounding up stray dogs shall continue to operate.

The Bench, however, had clarified that dogs with aggressive behaviour or those with rabies cannot be released from dog shelters.

It also disallowed public feeding of dogs. "No public feeding of dogs allowed. Dedicated feeding spaces of stray dogs to be created. There have been instances due to such public feeding," Justice Nath said, reading out the order in a jam-packed court.

Expanding the scope and ambit of the suo motu PIL, the top court transferred to itself all stray dogs-related cases pending in various high courts and issued notice to all states, through their Animal Husbandry Secretaries.

The Bench indicated that it will formulate a national policy on stray dogs after giving hearings to all the states. "All similar matters shall be transferred to this court for a final national policy," it said.

According to the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, the number of street dogs in India was 1.53 crore in 2019. As many as 37,15,713 cases of dog bite were reported in India in 2024 with Maharashtra (4,85,345), Tamil Nadu (4,80,427), Gujarat (3,92,837), Karnataka (3,61,494) and Bihar (2,63,930) occupying the top five spots. As many as 54 deaths caused by rabies were reported from across India in 2024 – with Maharashtra (14), Uttar Pradesh (6), Karnataka (5), Meghalaya (4) and Kerala (3) figuring at the top. During the first month of this year, 4,29,664 dog bite cases have already been reported.

Delhi recorded 17,874 dog bites cases in 2023 which rose to 25,210 in 2024. This year, in January alone 3,196 dog bites cases were recorded in the national capital.