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Lawyers and animal welfare organisations have raised concerns over the Supreme Court’s order on Friday, directing authorities to remove stray dogs from institutional areas such as schools, hospitals, and bus stands, and shift them to shelters.
Advocate Nanita Sharma, who was also a petitioner in the case, broke down after the SC’s order. She said the court’s order would impact dogs in public spaces across the country. “All educational and government institutions, railway stations, and bus stands will have stray dogs removed and relocated. Such a harsh order has been passed today, yet I still believe in divine justice; there should not be such injustice towards voiceless animals,” she said.
The court, hearing a suo motu case on the rise in dog bite incidents, ordered the “forthwith” removal of stray dogs from the premises of educational institutions, hospitals, sports complexes, bus stands and depots, and railway stations, “to a designated shelter, after due sterilisation and vaccination in accordance with the Animal Birth Control Rules”.
A three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria also said that “the stray dogs so picked up shall not be released back to the same location from which they were picked up”.
It also asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and other agencies to identify stretches where stray animals are found and relocate them. The matter will be heard next on January 13.
Alokparna Sengupta, managing director of Humane World for Animals India, said the directive ignores existing laws and the reality on the ground. “This is a directive that is unsustainable and counter-productive. It lacks consideration of the law established by Parliament, the infrastructure of public institutions, and the lives of street dogs in India,” she said.
“Relocating dogs to shelters is impossible at the scale given the lack of infrastructure and resources. The ABC Rules, 2023, recognise-sterilise-vaccinate-return as the only sustainable and lawful method to manage the population,” said Sengupta. “The removal of community dogs from their habitats and relocation to shelters that presently don’t exist, is likely to increase human-dog conflict” she added.
In a statement, Humane World for Animals India, said, “Campuses around the country have shown that living in coexistence is possible. We hope the court will consider the submissions of various organizations directly engaged in social work and give space to the progress that has taken place over decades.”
Advocate Vivek Sharma pointed out a pressing problem — funding for dog shelters. He said, “We don’t have enough funds for people; how shall we manage to allocate funds for animals?”
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