Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on January 13 warned the Centre and state governments that it could impose heavy compensation for every stray dog bite and related deaths, slamming authorities for “failing miserably” to implement the Animal Birth Control (ABC) rules. The court also said dog feeders must be held liable for attacks, stressing that the impact of dog bites is lifelong.
“We are going to take the Union Government and state governments to task. The issue has been ongoing forever… It is because of the Union and state governments that the problem has multiplied 1000 times. Complete failure on the part of the Union and state governments. For every man, woman and child who has lost their lives to a dog bite, we will impose heavy compensation on the government responsible,” said the bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria.
Turning to dog feeders, the bench said, “And also liability to dog feeders. You take them to your house, keep them. Why should they be allowed to roam around, biting, chasing? The effect of a dog bite is lifelong.”
The hearing resumed this week after detailed arguments last week, when the court clarified it was not calling for the removal of all street dogs but for strict enforcement of existing rules. Reiterating that stance, the bench urged lawyers to allow implementation. “Our request to all the lawyers is to allow us to take to task the union, the state authorities and other bodies to put what happened in 1957 into effect… We just want implementation of statutory provision… This has become a public platform rather than a court proceeding,” the court said.