Safety of children or protection of strays? The SC debates Delhi’s stray dog crisis, citing conflicting orders and lack of civic action.
BY PC Bureau
New Delhi, August 14 – The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its order on petitions challenging the August 11 directions of a two-judge bench to remove stray dogs from Delhi-NCR and shift them to shelter homes.
The matter, originally heard suo motu by Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, was transferred to a three-judge bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and NV Anjaria after lawyers told the Chief Justice of India that the new directions conflicted with earlier court orders.
At the hearing’s outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Delhi government, described the issue as a conflict between “a loud vocal minority and a silent suffering majority.” Citing WHO data, he said there are 37 lakh dog bites in India annually—about 10,000 a day—and roughly 20,000 rabies-related deaths. “Sterilisation doesn’t stop rabies. Even vaccinated dogs can maul children,” he said, adding that dogs must be separated from human spaces for safety.
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Senior advocate Kapil Sibal countered that existing laws—specifically the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules—require sterilisation and shelter provisions, which municipal authorities have failed to implement. “Where are the shelters? Where are the pounds? Without them, the dogs will be culled,” Sibal warned, urging the court to stay parts of the August 11 order mandating immediate removal of strays.
Sibal also claimed that picking up dogs without adequate facilities leads to overcrowding, fights, and disease outbreaks that can affect humans. He sought the release of dogs already taken into custody.
#SupremeCourt reserves order on plea to halt NCR #straydog removal; flags clash between public safety and animal rights
The Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria remarked that the case placed “human suffering on one hand and animal lovers on the other,” and… pic.twitter.com/ig0Bsurs8K
— Bar and Bench (@barandbench) August 14, 2025
Other senior advocates, including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Siddharth Dave, Aman Lekhi, Colin Gonsalves, and Krishnan Venugopal, argued that the August 11 order ignored multiple prior Supreme Court rulings prohibiting mass removal of strays and requiring strict adherence to ABC Rules. Venugopal noted that Delhi-NCR has around 1 million stray dogs, while shelters can hold barely 1,000.
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Justice Sandeep Mehta, observing that many claims were “anecdotal,” asked for concrete evidence. Justice Vikram Nath criticised municipal inaction, saying, “This is happening because the local authorities do nothing.”
The bench also sought the stand of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi through Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave. The court will now deliver its ruling after considering all submissions.
