BHARCS
← Removal of Free-Living Dogs
BHARCS
← Removal of Free-Living Dogs
A visual record of the Supreme Court of India's suo motu proceedings on free-living dogs — from the July 2025 trigger to the May 2026 final judgment.
A two-judge bench (Justices J.B. Pardiwala & R. Mahadevan) takes suo motu cognisance after the rabies death of a six-year-old in Delhi.
The bench orders all Delhi-NCR strays rounded up into shelters, with no re-release. Nationwide protests follow.
Amid the backlash, CJI B.R. Gavai reassigns the matter to a three-judge bench (Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, N.V. Anjaria).
The three-judge bench modifies the order: sterilised and immunised dogs must ordinarily be released back to their own localities; only rabid or aggressive dogs are withheld. Public feeding is regulated to designated zones, and the matter is expanded pan-India.
The Court summons the Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs over non-compliance; they appear and tender an unconditional apology.
The major order: remove stray dogs from the premises of schools, hospitals, sports complexes, bus and railway stations and other public places; fence those premises; and clear stray animals from highways.
Compliance hearings across states; the Court hears the bereaved parents, victims and animal-welfare groups, flags vague affidavits, and reserves judgment on 29 January.
The applications to modify the 7 November order are dismissed. The Court permits euthanasia of rabid or proven dangerously-aggressive dogs within statutory safeguards, shields officials acting in good faith, directs an ABC centre in every district, and puts High Courts in charge of monitoring compliance under threat of contempt.
BHARCS's own contributions to this debate — the co-authored literature review, the open letter, and the essays — are collected on the resource page.
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