Taking serious cognizance of the matter, Supreme Court on Wednesday flagged the increasing number of dog bite incidents in the country and called out the municipal authorities and other local bodies for their failure to implement the Animal Birth Control (ABC) rules.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria today heard detailed arguments in the suo motu case initiated by the top court on the issue of stray dogs and other animals in public places. The hearing in the matter will continue on Thursday.
"We are conscious that these things are happening. Children, adults are getting bit, people are dying," the Court said today.The Court also said that in the last 20 days, there have been two animal-related road accidents involving judges and one judge is in serious condition."One of the judges is still suffering through spinal injuries. It’s a very serious issue," it added.
The stray dog matter gained national attention last year after a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan directed Delhi municipal authorities to round up and shelter stray dogs, drawing protests from animal rights groups.That order was later modified by the present three-judge bench. It mandated vaccination and release of sterilized dogs instead of permanent sheltering.
In November 2025, the Court had directed the State governments and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to ensure removal of stray animals from the highways across India.The Court had also ordered that government and private educational, health institutions should be fenced within 8 weeks to tackle stray dog menace and prevent stray dog bites.
Stray dogs picked up shall not be released back to the same location from where they were picked up since doing so will defeat the directions issued to regulate the issue in such institutional areas, the Court added then.Today, amicus curiae Gaurav Agarwal informed the Court that the NHAI has prepared a standard operating procedure (SOP) to implement the court order.
"There’s 1,400 odd km of vulnerable stretch. After detecting, the NHAI says that the State government has to take care," Agarwal said.The Court remarked that the NHAI can take steps to cordon off or fence the roads. Agarwal further informed the Court infrastructural development is needed to implement the direction for putting the cattle and stray dogs in shelters.
"AWB says male dogs should be sterilised first. So that it takes care of future reproduction. Man power requirement is also there in ABC centres. The States were to file affidavits. I have compiled 10 affidavits received so far," he added. The Court was told that major States like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Punjab are yet to file compliance affidavits.
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