Stray Dogs case: LIVE UPDATES from Supreme Court

A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria is hearing the case relating to removal of stray dogs in Delhi.

Earlier, a Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had on August 11 ordered the removal of all stray dogs from streets and public spaces in Delhi, NOIDA, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad, their relocation to shelters, and a complete prohibition on releasing them back to the streets.

The order was passed in a suo motu case initiated by the Bench over umpteen incidents of rabies and deaths from stray dog bites.

The Bench had stated that the exercise must be prioritised and carried out without compromise. It added that if any individual or organisation created obstruction, the Court will take strict action against them including action for contempt of court.

The order led to widespread protests by animal rights activists, many of whom took to the streets.

Later, the matter was again mentioned before the Supreme Court and earlier orders passed by other Benches of the top court were highlighted which were said to be in conflict with the August 11 order.

The case then came to be shifted to a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath.

This Bench will be hearing the suo motu case as well as two other petitions - one a fresh petition taking exception to the August 11 order and another a pending appeal against a Delhi High Court judgment on the sterilization programme, where the petitioner alleged that MCD and others, despite receiving funds, failed to control the dog population. 

Live updates from the hearing today feature here.

Hearing starts.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal: Human beings are adequately represented.

Justice Vikram Nath: We have been asked just to listen.. but we are very vocal.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appears for Government of India.

SG Mehta: In a democracy there is one is vocal majority and one who silently suffers. We have seen videos of ones eating chicken egg etc and then claiming to be animal lovers. It's an issue to be resolved.. Children are dying. I would request to show.. the videographs of children dying. Second option was sterlisation, but sterlisation does not stop rabies. It does not stop mutilisation of children ... Look at the figures. 37 lakhs a year, 10,000 a day - this is dog bites (SG reads a newspaper report). Kindly see rabies deaths.

SG says no one is animal hater. No one is saying dogs have to be killed but they have to be segregated, he says.

SG refers to data on rabies death: WHO data shows 305 deaths a year. Most of children are under age group of 15. Nobody is a animal hater. Out of 100 species ... only 4 are poisonous .. We don't keep them at home. Dogs do not have to be killed.. they have to be separated. Parents cannot send children out to play. Young girls are mutilated

SG: Solution not in rules.. Court has to intervene.. this is vocal minority view vs silent majority suffering view

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal: This is first time I hear SG saying that laws are in place but it need not be followed. ABC rules are there and parliamentary legislation is there but let it not be dealt with. Question is to who is to comply with it. Question is has the Municipal corporation built shelter homes.. has the dogs been sterilised? Money has been siphoned off. No shelters are there. Such orders passed suo motu. No notice ... They are picking up dogs, where will they go? Order says, do not release them. This is a very serious situation, this needs to be argued in depth. My only request, this order be stayed.

Justice Vikram Nath: Show us the part of the order which is offending to you. We cannot spend the whole day on this.. show that to us.

Sibal says that the order directs rounding up stray dogs and sending them to shelters that don't exist, hence stay is being sought.

Sibal: What kind of shelters, what should they accommodate - this are issues to be discussed.. There are no shelters, there is no question of putting dogs in shelters.. Now direction 4 - stray dogs to be captured, sterlised, dewormed and not put back - where will they go? So this can't be implemented, so direction 4 has to be stayed. So direction 1 and 4 be stayed.

Sibal: What they are doing now? They are going and picking up dogs. Where will they go? They will be culled ... And there was a situation, dogs who do not have enough space in shelter attack each other, spreads pestilence - this affects humans also ... At this point in time, there is legislation. If there is concerns, lordships will take care of it, so that when sterlisation is done, there is no multiplication of dogs. This is how it is done in other countries. I am representing Project Kindness. We are an NGO that looks after dogs.

Sibal: 700 dogs, they already picked up. God only knows where they have gone..

Court: Order was uploaded only yesterday evening

Sibal: Yes, and they were picked up and they will be killed

Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra: Other High Courts have now started passing orders.

Senior Advocate AM Singhvi argues that August 11 order involved putting horse before the cart.

Singhvi: With the best of intentions, all directions put cart before horse. If there were dog pounds, shelters, the directions would make sense ... Directions 1, 2, 4 are directions that should be saved, that should be enough.. We are all concerned about society.. SG Mehta did preemptive prejudice. There is a problem about dog bites, but Lordships would be surprised to know, parliamentary data said there is 0 rabies deaths in Delhi, Goa, Rajasthan from 2022-25... Dog bites are bad, but you cannot create a horror situation like this. Government should look at its own data from house of parliament from two weeks ago.. The order completely ignores detailed earlier orders... They said, follow ABC rules strictly, sterlise, humanely manage...

Singhvi: Well meaning orders sometimes go beyond the law. All previous 6 orders of supreme Court says follow ABC rules, in a humane manner sterilise them, and then rehabilitate. 2d, 2j, 3(11) 3(16) ABC rules are violated.

Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra: Nobody from NGO, etc. were able to place anything on record. Take that material from us.

Justice Nath: We are only on the stay part

Senior Advocate Aman Lekhi: Unauthenticated videos were relied on and a rushed order passed thereafter.

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves: Population in Nizamuddin East has come down from 100 to 60. When you vaccinate and sterilise population comes down. In 10 years the streets can be free of stray dogs. The municipal corporation has failed to do it..

Luthra: MCD and (Delhi) government took a stand that ABC rules have to be complied with. They can't take a contrary stand today.

Another counsel: Today everyone is making noise that there has to be protection of dogs. But what about human beings? They are suffering. For every 24 individuals, there is a street dog. The people making noise have to take responsibility for the culpability (when there are dog bites).

Senior Advocate Archana Pathak (ASG) appears for Delhi government, says it is ready to follow directions passed.

Court: Whole problem is because of inaction of local authorities.. Rules are framed, but no implementation carried out, creating problem today. One one hand, humans suffering, on other hand animal lovers want dogs protected

Sibal: They are part of our environment.

Justice Nath: Have some responsibility.. all those who have filed interventions have to file affidavits and furnish evidence. All of you.

Court says it is reserving orders on interim prayer for stay.