Alarmed by increasing incidents of bites by stray dogs, some resulting in deaths, the Supreme Court on Monday initiated a suo motu case, terming the menace as 'highly disturbing'.
A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan expressed alarm over the details in a newspaper report which revealed that the elderly and children were the most affected by rabies from dog bite incidents.
"There is a highly disturbing news report titled ‘city hounded by strays and kids pay price’, which contains extremely troubling details. There are reports of hundreds of dog bite incidents from both cities and peripheral areas, many of which have led to rabies infections. Ultimately, it is infants and senior citizens who are falling prey to this deadly disease," the Court observed.
The Apex Court, therefore, proceeded to take suo motu cognisance of the issue and directed that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India BR Gavai for appropriate directions.
"We are taking suo motu cognisance. The registry has been directed to treat the matter as a suo motu writ petition and place the order along with the news report before the Chief Justice of India for necessary directions," the Court said. Delhi Government has also maintained that it is looking for a long-term solution to the stray dog menace, contending the issues involved both the people and also rehabilitation of the speechless animals.
Meanwhile, with regard to this problem, the Delhi High Court asked the city government authorities to frame a policy on rehabilitation of stray dogs at an institutional level so that they are ‘phased out’ from public roads and streets. In view of the ‘magnanimity of the problem’ faced by the general public’, the Court said coordinated efforts by the government, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Animal Welfare Board of India were needed for the formulation of any policy in this regard.
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