Stray dogs case: Supreme Court continues hearing [LIVE UPDATES]

The Supreme Court is hearing the case concerning stray dogs in India. A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria is hearing the matter.

The matter gained national attention last year after a Bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan directed Delhi municipal authorities to round up and shelter stray dogs, drawing protests from animal rights groups.

That order was later modified by the present three-judge bench. It mandated vaccination and release of sterilized dogs instead of permanent sheltering.

During the hearing on December 7, the Court flagged the increasing number of dog bite incidents in the country and called out the municipal authorities and other local bodies for their failure to implement the Animal Birth Control (ABC) rules.

During yesterday's hearing, the Court said that a dog can always smell people who are afraid of them and will attack when it senses that fear.

Track this page for live updates from the hearing today.

Hearing starts

Senior Advocate Krishnan Venugopal: In relation to the question of Ladakh, my client was also part of the issue. I have handed over a note on this aspect.

Senior Advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani: I want to highlight the plight of women feeders and caregivers. Under the garb of earlier orders there are anti feeder vigilantes. They are beating women, harassing women, the authorities are keeping silent on it.

Mahalakshmi Pavani points to a particular incident in south of India where vigilantes violently entered a woman feeder’s house.

Court: File an FIR then. If they are molesting women.

Mahalakshmi Pavani: FIRs are not being registered.

Court: Approach the high court don’t create noise about this here.

Mahalakshmi Pavani: This is happening all across India.

Mahalakshmi Pavani: There’s rampant illegal breeding, there’s illegal import of foreign dogs.

Court: This has nothing to do with the stray dogs issues. Please address on issues that we are dealing with. This has for nothing to do with stray dogs issues.

Mahalakshmi Pavani: Pit bulls and huskies are being left on streets

Court: There are remedies available in law, take those remedies.

Mahalakshmi Pavani: There are derogatory remarks made against women

Court: How is that related to this? Even we are criticised, we don’t react

Mahalakshmi Pavani: It goes to the extent of saying women are sleeping with dogs for their satisfaction!

Court: You file a petition. If someone is saying this that’s wrong.

Mahalakshmi Pavani: And in the Ladakh article the man himself says that the problem is man-made for food wastage etc.

Senior Advocate Percival Billimoria: I appear for a Jain sect.

Court: What’s your IA number?

Percival Billimoria: It’s not been numbered yet.

Court: We can’t hear you then. Wait for your turn. Let it be registered.

Percival Billimoria: On the last day there was a flood of new IAs that were filed. Please hear me.

Court: Sorry. We are not accepting direct applications here

Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat begins his submissions.

Shadan Farasat: This is a matter where the state has failed on its statutory duty to balance public safety and animal welfare. The problem on the ground is dogs have become a menace at some level.

Shadan Farasat reads his suggestions:

• There has to be zoning of public spaces - there are some spaces which have to be stray dogs free, like schools etc. it’s necessary.

• Direct mandatory feeding protocols, identify feeders, timings, etc, away from footpaths

• Time bound ABC implementation. State wants to jettison ABC rules. They can’t do that under the law. They gave a responsibility to implement ABC. There is a resource crunch. So direct states to identity the resource crunch. They can do it. Lordships don’t need to monitor it. There are large number of hospitals most of them owned by state governments. State governments and municipal corporations have to work together. The real vet machinery is with the state. But the responsibility is of municipal authorities. So they have to work together.

Shadan Farasat: It may be clarified that if there is a violation, parties will be in freedom to initiate action.

Senior Advocate Madhavi Divan begins her submissions.

Madhavi Divan: I am going to suggest some solutions. We were suggesting an online dashboard at the state level which will monitor local authorities and to automate transparency, accountability and implementation.

Madhavi Divan: We can have portable animal birth control units. Instead of taking animals to ABC centres, they are put under general anaesthesia, they are kept there till they recover and then they are released back. We are short of physical stationary ABC Centres. The speed of sterilisation is being impeded. Having these portable units is thus a very good idea.

Counsel appears for Sharmila Tagore - an applicant in the case.

Counsel: In our society we cannot have a one size fit all for removal of all dogs from the streets. The answer lies in science and psychology. The ABC rules may not be foolproof. Therefore it needs to be given a look.

Counsel: Legislature contemplated concept of street dogs and aggressive dogs, the release of a dog is recognised and adopted. It has been seen that once an aggressive dog comes and is treated and is given psychological treatment and are sent back to society…. There are cases where the aggression is repeated. But the dog has to be identified as an aggressive dog by the committee.

Counsel: Let’s see aggressive dogs vs normal dogs. There was a dog named Goldie in AIIMS, she’s there since many years.

Court: Was she being taken to the hospital theatre also? Any dog that’s in the streets is bound to have ticks. And a dog with ticks in a hospital will have disastrous consequences. Do you understand? We’ll let you know the reality of what is being argued. You (the dog lover’s side) are completely removed from reality. Don’t try to glorify these dogs in the hospitals.

Counsel: Colour coding collars can be done to identify dogs as who has bitten before etc. this has been done in countries like Georgia, Armenia etc.

Court: What is the population of those countries? Please be realistic counsel.

Counsel: We usually adopt a breed dog or a foreign dog. The concept of adopting an Indian dog needs to be encouraged.

Senior Advocate Zal Andhyarujina: As an organisation which works for welfare for stray dogs we accept the position that stray dogs population should be minimised. The problem is legal and scientific. The legal is how to best enforce ABC rules. Scientific is how to achieve control over dog population. The minute you remove a dog, however hard you try, the population actually increases. We have actually experienced good results in Bombay when it comes to CSVR.

Zal Andhyarujina: Nobody can accept a situation where dogs behave aggressively. Sterilisation program goes hand in hand with the control of aggressive behaviour. Feeding stations are to be set up in consultation with all stakeholders in the community. My summary position is that please don’t stop what we have started. The rules should be made more effective.

Senior Advocate AM Singhvi begins his submissions.

AM Singhvi: I appear for a body called ACGS (All Creatures Big and Small). This is now not entirely a matter about dog and humans. It’s about certain constitutional principles. The first point is that according to us the statute and the rules heavily occupy the entire area. The rules are complete fasciculous. The rules form a seamless web. Judicial intervention operates in interstices of gaps. Not where the legislature has intentionally not gone into.

AM Singhvi: Your lordships intentions are to do something good. But Your lordships are bound by the intention of the legislature...

Court: You can bluntly say your lordships are helpless also.

AM Singhvi: Certainly. Your lordships have all kind of restraints.

AM Singhvi: The obligation of the court to enforce rights is in the “absence of legislation”.

[AM Singhvi argues that when the legislative intent and clear provisions exist by way of ABC rules, the Supreme Court cannot interfere with it]

AM Singhvi: Your lordships will be building a new edifice if they enter into that territory. While our amicus is great, the concept of amici are basically law advisors. They are not domain experts. Your lordships must have domain experts along with the amicus. In the recent Aravalli judgement, the reconsideration was because that committee had 90% bureaucrats - generalists, not domain experts. Reconsideration was done because the domain experts had to come in.

AM Singhvi: It will improve the quality of your lordships orders. Aravalli is the most recent striking example. Willy nilly your lordships have passed an order. And it is more final than final can be. The trappings of finality are if substantial issues are decided are not- absolutely yes. The 7th Nov order. The expense also is a finality. One cannot have initiation of expense and then reverse it. Obviously there won’t be any demolitions. Even if your lordships agrees with me the order by its very nature is irreversible.

AM Singhvi: If something is happening tomorrow, if an epidemic happens, there can be interim orders. But your lordships will have to be restrained by permanence and reversibility.

AM Singhvi ends his submissions.

Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao: Your lordships have passed an interim order. Your lordships never intended it to have trappings of finality. The principle of institutional and constitutional empathy has to be considered. Your lordships have said that empathy must guide conduct. Is a direction which on the face of it on the teeth of what the law suggests, and we don’t have the mechanism for it, and the voiceless dogs, in that backdrop. And the doctrine of proportionality. Was the interim order the most proportional response… the article which we were asked to read yesterday, the converse of that is an article where stray dogs are running to protect a baby which was abandoned. This total destruction of animal territorial rights, whether it is proportionate to human safety. Proportionality analysis requires examining suitability, necessity and balance.

Rajshekhar Rao: Somebody said this is perhaps a pilot project to deal with the unfamiliar. But more importantly it is to find a way for the law to function where it is incapacitated because of various reasons. Dogs have become a part of establishment and have found a way to coexist. Institutions may be allowed to take care of their problems. Your lordships have vast powers but they are circumscribed by some limitations.

Rajshekhar Rao: If your lordships could see some videos that I have annexed…

Court: There are 'n' number of videos on YouTube where dogs are attacking children and old people. We don’t want a competition here.