"Continuous incidents happening," SC worries over country's image during stray dogs case hearing

The Supreme Court has expressed its concern over the country's image going down because of the constant incidents of dog attacks taking place across the country.

"Continuous incidents are happening and the image of the country is being shown down. We are also reading news reports," a Justice Vikram Nath led bench noted while hearing a suo motu case on stray dog menace.

In response to submission made by an advocate before the bench relating to cruelty against dogs, Justice Nath responded, "What about the cruelty towards humans?"

Noting that only three compliance affidavits had been filed before it i.e., by the State of West Bengal, State of Telangana and Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the court ordered the Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories other than the States of West Bengal and Telangana shall remain present before it on 3.11.2025 at 10:30 A.M. along with their respective explanations as to why compliance affidavits have not been filed.

Court also noted that several applications for intervention had been filed by NGOs and individual dog lovers and the same were placed on record. However, the Registry had not accepted the demand drafts of such interveners in terms of order court's dated 22.08.2025. "Hence, it is clarified that the Registry shall accept the demand drafts of all the NGOs and individual dog lovers who have either filed applications for intervention or who may file the application for intervention by Thursday, i.e., 30.10.2025. If there is any delay in submission of demand drafts in compliance with order dated 22.08.2025, the same shall stand condoned", the order added.

In its previous order, the court had directed the impleadment of all States and Union Territories in the instant matter through the Secretaries concerned of the Animal Husbandry Department, Secretaries of the local bodies (Municipal Corporation, Municipal Councils, Municipalities, etc.) and the Administrators of the Union Territories so as to seek information from each authority regarding the steps being taken for compliance of the ABC Rules in their respective jurisdictions.

Notably, Supreme Court on August 22nd had also partly stayed its recent order directing relocation of dogs from all localities of Delhi, Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Faridabad, Gurugram as well as areas on the outskirts, to designated shelters / pounds. "Prohibition on release of strays is stayed. They shall be dewormed, vaccinated and sent back to the respective areas.", a three-judge bench had said.

Court had further noted that it cannot be ignorant of the fact that the mandate to keep all the stray dogs, picked up from Delhi and the adjoining NCR cities, in the municipal shelters/pounds would require logistics of gargantuan proportions including manpower, shelters/pounds, veterinarians, cages and specially modified vehicles for transportation of the captured stray dogs.

On August 14, while raising concerns over the implementation of Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, and other legislations, Justice Vikram Nath led bench had asked the NGOs before it as to why they did not approach court for compliance earlier. "These NGOs should also be responsible..they should have approached court for compliance earlier..all these intervenors are also responsible..", the bench had said.

In July the top court had taken suo-moto cognizance of a very disturbing and alarming Newspaper cutting reported by the `Times of India’ in its Delhi edition titled “City Hounded By Strays, Kids Pay Price”. "Everyday, hundreds of dog bites are being reported in the city and the areas on the outskirts, leading to rabies and ultimately young infants, children and aged are falling prey to this dreadful disease. We are shocked to know that on an average 20,000 cases of dog bites are recorded in the country and out of which 2000 incidents happen in Delhi every day", the bench had noted.

As per the Newspaper report amidst the rising threat of stray dog in the national capital, a 6 year old girl by name Chavi Sharma fell prey to multiple dog bites leaving deep wounds on her left leg, arm and palm. Although the inhabitants of the locality complained for several times to the authorities concerned, yet none paid heed to the complaints of the people residing in the said locality. Also, a four year old boy Abhishek Rai was attacked by a pack of stray dogs on 23-7-2025 in Delhi’s Alipur area of Narela when the child was returning from his Anganwadi School. The dogs pounced at his face repeatedly injuring him until few bystanders rushed to his rescue.

Case Title: IN RE: “CITY HOUNDED BY STRAYS, KIDS PAY PRICE”

Hearing Date: October 27, 2025

Bench: Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria