CJI to review Delhi stray dogs issue, as Supreme Court is reminded of 2024 order on compassion

In an urgent mention of the Delhi stray dogs issues, a lawyer today on 13 August, Wednesday, reminded Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai of the Supreme Court’s own order of 9 May 2024 calling for their compassionate treatment.

“I will look into it,” promised the CJI, raising the hopes of animal lovers across Delhi NCR — including Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as well as former BJP MP Maneka Gandhi, speaking for People for Animals — who have been horrified by the top court’s order on 11 August, Monday, to effectively impound all the thousands of the national territory’s community dogs permanently in ‘shelters’.

The top court had on 11 August observed that instances of dog bites had risen to "extremely grim" proportions in Delhi and ordered the MCD, NDMC, and municipal authorities of Noida and Gurugram to immediately create shelters to hold 5,000 animals within 6-8 weeks, into which all strays were to be relocated.

This contrasts significantly with the May 2024 court order in question had barred organisations, individuals and RWAs alike from relocating or culling stray dogs and had instructed that the existing laws — including the 2023 rule for Animal Birth Control that requires sterilisation and vaccination followed by release to the spot of capture, and nowhere else — must be followed by all.

That order, which came from the single-judge bench of Justice J.K. Maheshwari, had sent petitions similar to the one being heard by the apex court now down to the pertinent high courts, with the observation that "Exhibiting compassion to all living beings is a constitutional value".

It was this same principle of compassion that saw animal lovers gather in hundreds in Delhi on the evening of the 11 August order as well as next day, 12 August, to protest against the judgement and face police action. The Supreme Court, while passing its order, had warned that any obstruction of the removal of dogs to shelters would be treated as contempt of court — but it did appear that the authorities interpreted this to include all articulation of dissent by citizens on this matter.

In a video interview to PTI, Maneka Gandhi said the Supreme Court's recent order would mean that "the Delhi government would need to find 1,000–2,000 centres, as too many dogs together would fight. They would first need land, then construct facilities within eight weeks, costing at least Rs 4-5 crore, with caretakers, feeders, and watchmen to prevent escapes".

She also added that the order, which "seems to stem from anger", seemed to be in response to a newspaper report of a child killed by dogs, yet the family had confirmed the death was due to meningitis.

"We need to pick up round up with whatever means to ensure dog-free locality, and that's how children and the aged will feel safe," the bench of justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan had said in their order, insisting no animal activists' protests would be entertained as there was no room for "sentiment" in the matter.

Indeed, the court had asked, would the animal lovers be able to bring back those who had died of rabies? (Delhi counted its last rabies death per government records in 2022.)

Being an order of the top court, with the Damocles sword of 'contempt of court' hung over it, many a proponent of animal rights — from celebrities such as John Abraham to regular feeders of dogs on the streets of Delhi and further afield, across India — sent in appeals to the CJI as the final recourse.

However, while CJI Gavai has promised to review the matter, he also stated that the bench had already passed an order. So perhaps we should not be too hopeful yet?