Remove stray dogs from public premises, relocate to shelters: Supreme Court
Noting that “incidents of dog-bite attacks continue to be reported with alarming frequency”, the Supreme Court directed Friday that stray dogs be removed “forthwith” from the premises of educational institutions, hospitals, sports complexes, bus stands and depots, and railway stations to “a designated shelter, after due sterilization and vaccination in accordance with the animal birth control rules”.
Stating that its directions be “implemented uniformly across India” with “status compliance certificates within a period of eight weeks”, a three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria said “the stray dogs so picked up shall not be released back to the same location from which they were picked up”.
“We have consciously directed the non-release of such stray dogs to the same location from which they were picked up as permitting the same would frustrate the very effect of the directions issued to liberate such institutional areas from the presence of stray dogs,” the bench said, putting the onus on removal of strays on the respective jurisdictional municipal body or authority.
It said it had come to know from news reports about dog-bite incidents within institutional areas. “The recurrence of such incidents, particularly within institutional spaces meant for learning, and recreation, reflects not only administrative apathy but also a systemic failure to secure these premises from preventable hazards. The situation calls for immediate judicial intervention to safeguard the fundamental right to life and safety of citizens, especially children, patients, and sportspersons, under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” it said.
Noting that “after Independence, despite significant advances in public health, India continues to report one of the world’s highest statistics of rabies-related mortality,” it said that despite the Animal Birth Control Rules, which “established the Capture-Sterilize-Vaccinate-Release (CSVR) model as the principal method for controlling the stray dog population”, the “implementation of these Rules has been ineffective, to say the least, across jurisdictions and the persistence of stray dog population has continued to imperil public safety in many parts of the country”.