Obstructing a person from feeding stray dogs in non-designated areas not wrongful restraint: HC

As per the FIR, when the complainant went to a housing society in Hinejwadi to feed street dogs, the accused and other members of the society objected. When the complainant started recording argument on her phone, the applicant allegedly tried to snatch her phone, the FIR stated. The complainant further alleged that when she started going back to her car, the applicant stood in front of the car and prevented her from leaving.

The applicant man, through advocate Mohan Anant Vishnu contended that the feeding of dogs had caused “significant nuisance and hardship to the residents of the society”. The applicant further submitted that over  the past 11 months, around 40 incidents of dog bites had occurred in the society. The accused stated that the place where complainant and her friends were feeding the stray dogs was not a “feeding spot”.

“Having regard to the peculiar facts, we find that obstructing a person from feeding stray dogs in a non-designated area and the area where schoolchildren board and alight school buses, as well as near the entry and exit points of the society, cannot be said to be ‘wrongful restraint’ within the meaning of Section 126 of the BNS,” the court said and noted that Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023 also provide for designated feeding area for the stray dogs.

“In any event, stopping a person from wrongfully feeding the stray dogs in a non-designated area cannot be said to be restraint within the meaning of Section 126(1) of the BNS Act,” the court added, referring to earlier judgements by the Supreme Court.

The court further said that exception to Section 126 (1) was “quite eloquent”, which stated that the obstruction of a private way over land or water that a person in good faith believes himself to have a lawful right to obstruct, is not an offence within the meaning of this section.

The HC also noted that the FIR was lodged with a nearly four-month delay in January, 2025, while the alleged offence took place in September, 2024. The HC allowed the plea and set aside the FIR against the applicant and subsequent proceedings pending before the magistrate court.