SC refuses to go into allegation of harassment of women dog feeders

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said it would not go into the allegations of harassment of women dog feeders and caregivers by purported anti-feeder vigilantes since it was a law-and-order issue and the aggrieved persons could lodge FIRs about it.

Hearing arguments in the stray dogs case, the apex court also refused to go into the claims about certain derogatory remarks being made about women in the issue.

A three-judge special bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria observed that some of the arguments made before it were “far from reality” and there were a number of videos of stray dogs attacking children and the elderly.

The top court was hearing arguments on pleas, including the ones filed by dog lovers, seeking modification of its earlier orders and those for stringent compliance with the directives.

Senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani highlighted the plight of women dog feeders and caregivers and said anti-feeder vigilantes have assumed the role of enforcing the apex court’s order passed earlier in the matter. “Under the garb of this, they are harassing women, they are molesting women, and they are beating women,” she said.

Justice Nath observed, “Lodge an FIR against them. Who stops you?”

The bench said that if anyone was harassing or molesting women, it was a crime, and the aggrieved person could set the criminal law in motion by lodging an FIR.

When Pavani referred to an incident where a dog feeder was attacked in her house, the bench said, “All this is a criminal offence. You lodge an FIR against that”.

“We can’t take up these individual cases where something is going wrong somewhere. This court is not going to monitor that. That is a law-and-order problem,” Justice Nath observed.

Pavani said that in Haryana, certain societies hired bouncers to remove dog feeders, and a woman was slapped in Ghaziabad, but no FIR was lodged.

“We are not going to accept this. If a criminal offence is committed, an FIR will be registered. There are procedures available to you, remedies available, and how to get it registered,” the bench said.

The senior advocate flagged the issue of unregulated breeding and exotic imports.