In Re: “City Hounded By Strays, Kids Pay Price” vs .

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2025 Supreme(SC) 1238

VIKRAM NATH, SANDEEP MEHTA, N. V. ANJARIA
In Re: “City Hounded By Strays, Kids Pay Price” – Appellant
Versus
. – Respondent

Advocates appeared:
For the Parties :Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv. Dr. A.M. Singhvi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sidharth Luthra, Sr. Adv. Mr. Percival B, Sr. Adv. Ms. Mahalaxshmi Pavani, Sr. Adv. Ms. Meneka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv. Ms. Jasmine P, Adv. Mr. Avinash Tripathi, Ms. Rupali Jain, Adv. Mr. Amit Bhandari, Adv. Mr. Pritish Tekhandani, Adv. Mr. Parvesh A, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Raghuvanshi, Adv. Mr. Satya Ojha, Adv. Mr. Divyam Khera Adv. Mr. Rachit Sood, Adv. Mr. A Chinni, Adv. Ms. Vaishali Sharma, Adv. Ms. Bhakti Pasrija, Adv. Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Moksh P, Adv. Ms. Bharti Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rahul Kripalani, Adv. Mr. Zeeshan Diwan, AOR Mr. Vishal Sinha, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Singh, Adv. Ms. Smiti Verma, Adv. Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Ms. Prerna Dhall, Adv. Mr. G.S Makker, AOR Mr. Kamal, Adv. Mr. Vaibhav Diwedi, Adv. Mr. Ajit Sharma, AOR Mr. Vaibhav Mishra, AOR Mr. Raghav Sood, Adv. Mr. Kanchan Kumar, Adv. Mr. Anant Ram Mishra, Adv. Mr. Lareb Habib Ansari, Adv. Mr. Yuvraj Sinh C. Solanki, Adv. Mr. Anant Ram Mishra, AOR Mr. Raghav Sood, Adv. Mr. Rajuv Talwar, Adv. Ms. Urvashi Misra, Adv. By Courts Motion, AOR Ms. Neha Rathi, AOR Mr. Parth Semwal, Adv. Ms. Jasmine Damkewala, AOR Ms. Purti Gupta, AOR Ms. Purti Gupta (arguing Counsel), Adv. Ms. Henna George, Adv. Ms. Sunidhi Sah, Adv. Ms. Pooja Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Sr. Adv. Mr. Udian Sharma, AOR Mr. Vishesh K. Sapra, Adv. Mr. Manav Mitra, Adv. Mr. Sahil Saraswat, Adv. Ms. Harsha Sadhwani, Adv. Ms. Karuna Nundy, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mrigank Prabhakar, AOR Mr./Ms. Ishan Karki, Adv. Mr. Amanpreet Singh, Adv. Mr. Shiv Mehrotra, Adv. Ms. Rishika Rishabh, Adv. Ms. Shivangshi Mitra, Adv. Mr. Krishnan Venugopal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Avishkar Singhvi, Adv. Ms. Supriya Juneja, AOR Mr. Avinash Mathew, Adv. Mr. Labeeb Faaeq, Adv. Ms. Nandini Kaushik, Adv. Ms. Esha Dutta, Adv. Ms. Shaalini Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Pandey, Adv. Mr. Vivek Sharma, AOR Dr. Vijay Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Nakul Dewan, Sr. Adv. Ms. Gehena Gambani, Adv. 3 Mr. Shalka Patil, Adv. Mr. Amaan R, Adv. Trilegal Advocates Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Sr. Adv./Adv. Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR Mr. Siddhartha K. Garg, Adv. Mr. Sunil Prakash Sharma, AOR Mr. Rahul Mohod, Adv. Mr. Raju Sonkar, Adv. Mr. Rohit Mohod, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Gyan, Adv. Ms. Aneeta Yadav, Adv. Mr. L.n. Sharma, Adv. Petitioner-in-person Mr. Abhik Chimni, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kripalani, Adv. Ms. Sonali Chopra, Adv. Ms. Damini Chawla, Adv. Ms. Mogiyira, Adv. Ms.O. Hoda, Adv. Mr. Midha, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rajshekar R, Sr. Adv. Ms. Gauri Puri, Adv. Ms. Sonali Malhotra, Adv. Mr. Tanvir Nayar, AOR Mr. Abhinav Vashist, Sr. Adv. Mr./Ms. Aman Lekhi, Sr. Adv. Ms. Madhurima Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Akshita Sachdev, Adv. Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR Ms. Kanishka Mittal, Adv. Ms. Deepti Rathi, Adv. Ms. Manisha T. Karia, Sr. Adv. Ms. Kalra Sukhda Kishore, AOR Ms. Shreya Gupta, Adv. Mr. Varun Khetwani, Adv. Ms. Ananya Arora, Adv. Mr. Deepin Sahni, Adv. Ms. Vaasyati Bezbaruah, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Dave, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rahul Kirplani, Adv. Ms. Eesha Bakshi, Adv. Mr./Ms. Omai T, Adv. Mr. Uday Bhatia, Adv. Mr. Usman Ghani Khan, Adv. Mr. S. Trehan, Adv. Mr. M. Dasgupta, Adv. Mr. Rahul K, Adv. Mr. Sunil Prakash Sharma, AOR Mr. Rahul Mohod, Adv. Mr. Raju Sonkar, Adv. Mr. Rohit Mohod, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Gyan, Adv. Ms. Aneeta Yadav, Adv. Mr. L.N. Sharma, Adv. Ms. Nanita Sharma, Petitioner-in-person Mr. Vivek Sharma, Adv. Mr. Mahesh Tiwari, Adv. Ms. Padmini, Adv. Mr/Ms. Sabnam, Adv. Mr. Karl P Rustomkhan, Adv. Mr. Parv Arora, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. Praveen Swarup, Adv. Mr. Rohit Swarup, Adv. Mr. Ameet Singh, Adv. Mr. Ravi Kumar, Adv. Mr. Devesh Maurya, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rohilla, Adv. Ms. Ashu Tomar, Adv. Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR Ms. Kanishka Mittal, Adv. Ms. Deepti Rathi, Adv. Mr. Vaibhav G, Adv. Ms. Monica Lakhanpal, Adv. Ms. K Kumar, Adv. Mr. Akash Chatterjee, AOR Ms. Manisha T. Karia, Sr. Adv. Ms. Kalra Sukhda Kishore, AOR Ms. Shreya Gupta, Adv. Mr. Varun Khetwani, Adv. Ms. Ananya Arora, Adv. Mr. Deepin Sahni, Adv. Ms. Vaasyati Bezbaruah, Adv.

Judgement Key Points

Key Points: - The Supreme Court took suo moto cognizance of a news report concerning stray dogs and their impact on public safety, particularly for children (!) . - Initial directions were issued to pick up stray dogs, relocate them to shelters, and not release them back onto the streets (!) (!) . - Animal welfare organizations argued that the directions conflicted with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, which mandate the release of sterilized dogs back to their original areas (!) . - Concerns were raised about the logistical challenges and potential for culling of stray dogs due to insufficient shelter infrastructure (!) . - The Court acknowledged the need to protect citizens from rabid and aggressive stray dogs while also considering the legal framework of the ABC Rules (!) . - Directions prohibiting the release of treated and vaccinated dogs were deemed too harsh without assessing municipal body infrastructure and human resources (!) (!) . - The Court modified the previous directions, keeping the prohibition on release in abeyance and mandating the release of sterilized, dewormed, and vaccinated dogs back to their original areas, with exceptions for rabid or aggressive dogs (!) (!) . - Municipal authorities are directed to establish dedicated feeding spaces for stray dogs and prohibit feeding on streets (!) . - Animal lovers and NGOs approaching the court are required to deposit a sum of money for the creation of infrastructure for stray dogs (!) . - The scope of the matter was expanded to include all States and Union Territories, requiring them to report on their compliance with ABC Rules (!) (!) .

What are the rights of stray dogs versus the safety of citizens?

What is the feasibility of implementing directions for impounding stray dogs without evaluating existing infrastructure?

How to balance the implementation of Animal Birth Control Rules with the safety of citizens?

ORDER :

1. A Bench of two Hon’ble Judges of this Court took suo moto cognizance on 28th July 2025, of a news report published in The Times of India, Delhi Edition, titled “City Hounded by Strays, Kids Pay Price”.¹[Koushiki Saha, “Delhi hounded by strays, kids pay price: Girl (6) dies of rabies after dog attack, family alleges official apathy”, (Time of India, 28 July, 2025) can be accessed here < https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-hounded-bystrays-kids-pay-price-girl-6-dies-of-rabies-after-dog-attack-family-allegesofficial-apathy/articleshow/122938488.cms>]

2. Pursuant to the taking of suo moto cognizance, the matter came to be listed before the Bench on 11th August 2025, on which, the following directions were issued: -

(i) Start picking up and rounding the stray dogs from all localities of Delhi, Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Faridabad, Gurugram as well as areas on the outskirts, and relocate these dogs into designated shelters/pounds.

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2025 Supreme(SC) 1238

VIKRAM NATH, SANDEEP MEHTA, N. V. ANJARIAIn Re: “City Hounded By Strays, Kids Pay Price” – AppellantVersus. – Respondent

What are the rights of stray dogs versus the safety of citizens?

What is the feasibility of implementing directions for impounding stray dogs without evaluating existing infrastructure?

How to balance the implementation of Animal Birth Control Rules with the safety of citizens?

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VIKRAM NATH, SANDEEP MEHTA, N. V. ANJARIA
In Re: “City Hounded By Strays, Kids Pay Price” – Appellant
Versus
. – Respondent