THE SUPREME COURT ON THURSDAY reserved its order on pleas challenging its August 11 directive to round up all stray dogs in the Delhi NCR region, keep them in designated shelters, and not release them back to the areas from where they were picked up.
A three-judge Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N.V. Anjaria heard senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sidharth Luthra, Colin Gonsalves, and Aman Lekhi, among others, before reserving orders. The Bench declined to stay the August 11 directive, which animal rights activists have criticised as being in conflict with an earlier order of May 2024.
Appearing for the Union, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted:
“In a democracy, there is one vocal majority and one who silently suffers. We have seen videos of people eating chicken and eggs and then claiming to be animal lovers. It is an issue to be resolved. Children are dying… sterilisation does not stop rabies… even if immunised.”
Citing WHO data, he said 305 deaths occur every year, most of them children under fifteen. “Nobody is an animal hater… Dogs do not have to be killed, but they have to be separated. Parents cannot send children out to play. Young girls are mutilated,” Mehta argued, noting that there was no effective solution in the existing Rules, and the Court must intervene given the clash between “a vocal minority view” and “the silent majority suffering.”
