NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed for taking immediate steps to counter the menace of dog bites leading to rabies, saying the situation regarding stray dogs is "extremely grim".
The top court directed that all stray dogs in Delhi and the national capital region should be rounded up within eight weeks and be kept in dedicated dog shelters to be set up by civic authorities.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan ordered the Delhi government and civic bodies to start picking up strays from all localities at the earliest and they should be housed in dog shelters.
The court made it clear that no captured animal will be released back on the streets.
Taking up a suo motu matter, the bench said, this is the time to act.
The court also took a dig at the animal activists or the so called “animal lovers” by asking if they can bring back children who had fallen prey to rabies, caused by dog bites.
“Will they put life back in those children? Let us talk about a practical view on the matter," the bench asked.
The court also criticised the practice under the animal birth control rules, which mandated release of sterilised dogs back into the same locality.
"We have noticed some unreasonable and absurd rules that you pick one dog, sterilise them, and bring them back to the same place. We fail to understand why you bring them back," the bench asked.
"Forget the rules and face reality. These dogs are to be rounded up and captured immediately by whatever means," the bench further said.
After hearing Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and amicus curiae senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal, the bench asked the authorities to round up all stray dogs from all localities, including localities on the outskirts of Delhi, and shift them to some other place.
"Whether sterilised or not sterilised, the society must feel free and safe. You should not have any stray dogs roaming around," the bench said.
Issuing a slew of directions to tackle the menace of dog bite incidents, the court said that no person or organisation should come in the way of picking up stray dogs by the authorities.
The court ordered contempt proceedings against any individual or organisation that attempts to obstruct the authorities from carrying out the capture drive.
The bench said as of now, the dog shelters will be created to accommodate around 5,000 stray dogs and sufficient personnel should be deployed there to sterilise and immunise the canines, and added that CCTV monitoring will ensure compliance.
Mehta said that there is no evidence that sterilisation stops dog bites or eliminates the threat of rabies.
When senior advocate Sidharth Luthra sought to intervene, on behalf of his client, the bench said, “all intervention applications are rejected. In the larger interest of people and the grim situation prevailing that has put the safety and lives of children, senior citizens, and everyone else in peril, we will not entertain any intervention application”.
The court directed the Delhi government, MCD, NDMC, and authorities in Noida, Ghaziabad, and Gurugram to start picking stray dogs from all localities and areas on the outskirts.
It directed authorities to create a helpline so that all complaints of dog bites are immediately registered.
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