Court Says No More a Nation that Fears Its Dogs More than It Loves Its Children

Finally, the Supreme Court has said what everyone is too scared to post on Facebook for fear of being cancelled by barking activists, “stray dogs must go.”

- Ravi Shankar

Not to a “shelter,” not to a “rehabilitation zone,” not to the soft-focus Instagram feed of some NGO, but away from the residential streets where they hunt, bite, and kill.

And for once, those who don’t follow the law, be they activists, organisations, or self-proclaimed guardians of canine dignity, will face consequences. It’s absurd that this even needs saying. Packs of feral dogs roam colonies like a medieval curse, mauling children, tearing at the elderly, dragging down cyclists, and, in the most grotesque cases, killing infants in their homes. Rabies, an affliction most of the developed world last saw in history books, still kills thousands here every year. In Bijnor, 60-year-old Munni Devi was killed by a pack of stray dogs while collecting fodder. A 30-year-old woman was mauled to death in the same district by strays in January 2022; previous victims included a seven-year-old girl, In Balangir district, Odisha, a 26-year-old para-athlete Jogendra Chhatria and a villager died of rabies following a bite from a rabid stray dog.