India’s Supreme Court has modified its previous order asking authorities in Delhi and its suburbs to move all stray dogs into shelters amid widespread protests by animal welfare groups.
The three-judge bench said that strays should be released after being vaccinated and sterilised but added that dogs with rabies or aggressive behaviour should be immunised and kept in shelters.
The court also banned feeding of stray dogs in public spaces and ordered dedicated areas to be set up for the purpose.
On 11 August, a two-judge bench had expressed concern over the rising “menace of dog bites leading to rabies” in Delhi and its suburbs.
Delhi’s stray dog population is estimated at one million, with suburban Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram also seeing a rise, municipal sources say.
India has millions of stray dogs and the country accounts for 36% of the total rabies-related deaths in the world, according to the World Health Organization.
To deal with the dog menace, on 11 August the Supreme Court ordered authorities in the capital and its suburbs to round up all stray dogs and put them in shelters.
It ordered authorities to build shelters to house these dogs in eight weeks’ time.
The order went against existing rules that state that stray dogs should be released to their original site after being sterilised at shelters, sparking strong protests and legal challenges from several animal welfare groups.
They called for more humane solutions like vaccination and neutering and warned that putting all strays in shelters would lead to problems like overcrowding and culling.
Following the backlash, the Supreme Court set up a three-judge bench to hear the challenge.
In Friday’s ruling, the court stayed the earlier order to round up all strays, stating that non-aggressive, non-infected dogs could be released to their capture site after being vaccinated and neutered.
The court also said that animal lovers could apply to municipal corporations to adopt strays but that these dogs were not to be returned to the street.
The court added that action would be taken against people found to be feeding stray dogs in public areas and warned animal welfare groups against interfering with its orders.
The Supreme Court has also said that it would formulate a national policy around stray dogs after hearing similar cases pending in different states.
The ruling has been welcomed by animal welfare groups.
Alokparna Sengupta, director of Humane World for Animals India, said it was “balanced, structured and compassionate”.
However, she said there was a need for a clear criteria, based on scientific data, to be established to identify “aggressive dogs” so that the court’s order was not misused to capture and confine dogs without justification or based on personal prejudice.
