The right to live with dignity encompasses the right to move freely without the threat of harm from dog bite attacks, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while dismissing pleas seeking a recall of its earlier order on the relocation and sterilisation of stray canines.
“The court cannot remain oblivious to harsh ground realities where children, international travellers and old age people have fallen victim to dog bite incidents,” a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria said in response to the petitions by animal rights activists and others.
The court also issued a slew of directions to states, union territories and other statutory bodies to augment infrastructure to deal with stray dogs.
WHAT HAD HAPPENED LAST YEAR? WHY THE PLEAS?
The top court is hearing a suo motu
case, initiated on July 28 last year, over a media report on stray dog bites leading to rabies, particularly among children, in the national capital. On November 7 last year, the court took note of the “alarming rise” in dog-bite incidents in areas such as educational institutions, hospitals and railway stations and directed that stray dogs be relocated to designated shelters after sterilisation and vaccination. Stray dogs picked up shall not be released back to their original place, the court said.
On Tuesday, the apex court rejected petitions challenging the validity of SOPs on dealing with stray animals issued by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI). Implementation of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) framework, it said, remains largely sporadic, underfunded and uneven across jurisdictions.
The framework includes sterilisation, vaccination, sheltering, and overall scientific management of state arms. Prolonged inaction coupled with the absence of institutional commitment to the effective implementation of the ABC framework has led to aggravation of the problem, which has now assumed dimensions “warranting urgent and systemic intervention”, the apex court said.
“The right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of India necessarily encompasses the right of every citizen to move freely and access public spaces without living under a constant apprehension of physical harm, attack, or exposure to life-threatening events, such as dog bites in public areas,” the court ruled. “The state cannot remain a passive spectator where preventable threats to human life continue to proliferate in the face of statutory mechanisms specifically designed to address them,” it added.
WHAT IS THE ABC PROGRAMME?
The Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme is a government-approved, scientifically proven initiative designed to humanely manage the street dog population and eradicate rabies. Recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health, it serves as an ethical alternative to mass culling or confining street dogs to shelters.
The programme operates strictly on the “Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return” (CNVR) model, which legally prohibits the relocation or killing of stray dogs. The process consists of four distinct steps — humane catching, surgical sterilisation, Anti-Rabies Vaccination (ARV), safe return.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ABC RULES?
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the pan-India stray dog crisis legally mandates that the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023 serve as the binding national framework, confirming that stray dogs must generally be sterilised, vaccinated, and returned to their exact locality.
1. Mandatory District-Level Infrastructure
The Supreme Court pulled up states for a “discernible absence of efforts” in building ABC infrastructure. Every single district in India must establish at least one fully functional, state-of-the-art ABC centre. Local Municipal Corporations and Panchayats are legally forced to scale up active capture-neuter-vaccinate-return operations. If your neighbourhood has lacked consistent sterilisation drives, local bodies can no longer cite a lack of local facilities as an excuse.
2. High-Footfall Public Spaces Modeled as “No-Release Zones”
The Court upheld its strict November directive carving out specific “institutional areas” from the usual pick-and-drop ABC rules.
Any stray dog found within schools, colleges, hospitals, sports complexes, bus depots, and railway stations must be captured, sterilised, and vaccinated—but cannot be released back to those premises. These dogs must be permanently shifted to dedicated, civic-run shelters equipped with CCTVs and medical staff.
Public institutions near your home are ordered to secure their perimeters, fence their campuses, and physically exclude free-roaming dogsto ensure public safety.
3. Legalising Euthanasia for Rabid and Dangerous Dogs
In a critical shift balancing animal welfare with human lives, the Court clarified the protocol for highly aggressive animals. Dogs diagnosed with rabies or exhibiting incurable, dangerous aggression will not be released back onto any street.
The Supreme Court explicitly permits the euthanasia of incurably ill, rabid, and mortally wounded dogs. This process must be verified by a qualified veterinarian and cleared by the local ABC monitoring committee.
4. Zero Tolerance for Street Feeding
The judgment significantly reshapes how community dogs are fed, explicitly aiming to end territorial friction on public roads. Randomly feeding stray dogs on public streets, footpaths, or common areas is strictly prohibited. Municipal bodies must designate specific, isolated feeding zones within every ward.
Animal lovers and feeders must restrict feeding to these earmarked municipal spots. The Court warned that any individual or NGO attempting to obstruct civic bodies from picking up dogs or violating feeding rules will face harsh legal penalties, including heavy fines and potential arrest for contempt.
HOW WILL THIS RESOLVE LOCAL DISPUTES?
The High Courts across all states have been directed by the Supreme Court to actively monitor the crisis via localized, ongoing suo motu proceedings titled “In Re: Stray Dogs”. If your Residents Welfare Association (RWA) or neighborhood is experiencing high human-dog conflict, residents can now leverage this ruling to demand that municipal authorities immediately build designated feeding zones, secure local schools/hospitals, and accelerate local ABC sterilisation drives under strict judicial oversight.
With PTI inputs
