Madhya Pradesh High Court directs removal of stray dogs from Indore, cites Supreme Court verdict

The bench on December 19 directed the civic body to identify the “prominent public places including tourist places of Indore city” such as Chhappan Dukan and Sarafa, etc. and “conduct a drive for removal of stray dogs on top priority on the said places”.

Background

A PIL was filed before the high court by an NGO seeking removal of the livestock including cattle, sheep, goats from the city limits to protect the greenery. An issue of stray dogs was also raised in the petition.

On November 25, the high court passed an order granting 10 days time to the state to apprise it about action taken by the municipal body regarding removal of stray dogs in accordance with directions issued by the Supreme Court on November 7.

On December 19, the state informed the court that certain measures had been taken by the civic body regarding the issue including the stray cattle and stray dogs.

He also informed the court that the corporation was continuously engaged in removing stray cattle from the city.

Arguments

Advocates Kirti Patwardhan and Manish Yadav, appearing for the intervenors in the PIL submitted that the menace of stray dogs persisted across the city and that several dog-bite incidents had been reported.

Advocate Shri Bhuwan Gautam, government advocate for the state submitted that drives were taken by the corporation with regard to the issue of the cattle and stray dogs.

He said that teams of the civic body are constantly engaged in removal of stray cattle from the city and updated reports are forwarded to the concerned department on quarterly basis.

Observations

The court directed the IMC to strictly comply with its earlier directions as well as the orders passed by the apex court in November regarding the issue of stray dogs.

“To ensure proper compliance of the directions, we direct that the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, shall hold a meeting of the concerned officers of the Corporation and prepare an action plan in this regard. The meeting shall be fixed within 10 days from today,” the court ordered.

The bench ordered the civic body to submit an action-taken report before the court by January 13, 2026 which will include detailed data on the sterilisation of stray dogs.

“If we find that the action report is not satisfactory, we may direct the personal appearance of the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Indore,” the court warned.

What Supreme Court said

On November 7, taking suo moto cognisance of the death of a six-year-old girl due to rabies after dog bite, the top court had directed the immediate relocation of stray dogs to designated shelters after sterilisation and vaccination.

The court also ordered that such dogs should not be released back at the spots from where they were picked up.

On December 18, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta declined to intervene immediately against rules framed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on the handling of stray dogs.

The bench told the petitioners that the court would play a video at the next hearing to test competing claims of what constitutes “humanity”.

The bench was hearing the suo motu case on the stray dog menace when senior advocate Kapil Sibal objected to the MCD’s newly framed rules, arguing that they amounted to “inhuman” treatment of animals.