BJP leader Maneka Gandhi on Sunday said Supreme court judges have done “disservice” to the nation as apex court’s order to remove stray dogs from public spaces has “divided” the country. The top court in its recent order instructed states to remove the stray dogs from the premises of hospitals, educational institutions, sports complexes, bus terminals, and railway stations in view of “alarming rise in dog bite incidents”.
Speaking to reporters, Gandhi said, “Supreme Court has created an atmosphere of hate across India… What the judges have done is wrong by simply dividing India into people that hate one or one love species, through this they have done to disservice to India. The Animal Welfare Act is a very good act. They haven’t removed the act. They have simply said that you can act against the act. This is not correct.”
What did SC say?
The apex court had taken a suo moto cognisance of the menace of stray dogs across the country. A three-judge bench on August 22 had modified a two-judge bench’s August 11 order, which had directed the rounding up of all stray dogs in the Delhi-NCR and prohibited their release from dog shelters.
The August 22 order stated that the stray dogs would be released back to the same area after sterilisation and immunisation, except for dogs that are infected with rabies or exhibit aggressive behaviour. It had also restricted public feeding of stray dogs and directed the MCD to create dedicated feeding spaces in each municipal ward.
It had further ordered that persons found feeding the dogs in contravention of its direction shall be liable to be proceeded with under the relevant framework.
Background of the case
The apex court had also expanded the scope of the proceedings on menace of stray dogs and impleaded all states and Union Territories as parties to the case. The August 11 order was limited to the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) area only. The three-judge bench order had come on pleas seeking a stay of its August 11 order of a two-judge bench to remove all stray dogs from the localities in the Delhi-NCR region and put them in shelter homes.
On August 11, the top court ordered that all localities in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, and Faridabad be made free of stray dogs, with no compromise. Additionally, it made clear that no captured animal would be released back into the streets.