The Supreme Court has directed authorities to remove all stray dogs from Delhi-NCR localities and put them in shelters while saying the canines won’t return to the streets.
Calling the incidents of stray dog bites “extremely grim”, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan passed a slew of directions and warned of strict action against an individual or organisation in case of obstruction, which might also prompt the court to initiate contempt proceedings.
“If any individual or any organisation comes in the way of such force picking up stray dogs and rounding them up, and if it is reported to us, we shall proceed to take strict action against any such resistance which may be offered,” the bench said.
The bench further remarked if the animal activists and “so-called lovers” would be able to bring back children who fell prey to rabies.
“Will they put life back to those children? When situation demands, you have to act,” it noted.
The top court was hearing a suo motu case initiated on July 28 over stray dog bites leading to rabies in the national capital.
The top court on Monday directed all the strays to be removed and put in shelters by the Delhi government and civic bodies of Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad.
The top court ordered dog shelters to have sufficient personnel to sterilise and immunise the dogs aside from looking after them. The centres would be under CCTV surveillance to ensure no dog was released or taken out.
Since it was a “progressive exercise”, the top court suggested augmenting the number of dog shelters in future.
The bench said for the time being, the authorities should begin by creating dog shelters for around 5,000 dogs within six to eight weeks.
