Rahul hails SC’s ‘progressive’ tweak on stray dogs order

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court’s revised directions on stray dogs and said it marks a progressive step towards balancing animal welfare and public safety.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha also said the approach is both compassionate and rooted in scientific reasoning.

The top court on Friday modified its August 11 direction prohibiting the release of stray dogs from dog shelters in Delhi-NCR, and said the picked up canines should be sterilised, vaccinated and released back in the same area.

A three-judge special bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath, however, said municipal authorities shall continue to comply with the direction asking them to start picking up and rounding stray dogs from all localities of Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram.

The Apex Court said the August 11 direction prohibiting the release of picked up stray dogs shall be kept in abeyance for the time being.

In a post on X, Gandhi said: “I welcome the Supreme Court’s revised directions on stray dogs, as it marks a progressive step toward balancing animal welfare and public safety.” “The approach is both compassionate and rooted in scientific reasoning,” he said.

Former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi also welcomed the ruling. “The Supreme Court’s judgment is scientific and we are very happy with it,” Gandhi said, responding to the order by a three-judge special bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath.

The former BJP MP noted that the earlier practice of picking up dogs, sterilising them and abandoning them elsewhere had not helped in controlling either their population or cases of dog bites.

“Until now, dogs were picked up, sterilised and thrown in another place. There was no benefit to sterilisation because when a dog is left in a strange area after a major operation, it is scared, in pain and does not know who will feed it. That is when it bites,” she said.