Update On Stray Dogs Case In High Court

Date: December 21, 2008

Dear Friends

Greetings from In Defense of Animals India!

You must have heard that the Hon'ble Mumbai High Court has passed the judgment pertaining to stray dogs on Friday 19th December 2008, after hearing nearly 15 petitioners / interveners for past three years. This order has decided the fate of all stray dogs not only in Mumbai city, but in the entire State of Maharashtra and Goa.

While the 156 page Judgment is yet to be received and studied by experts, the good news is that the Division Bench comprising of Justice Radhakrishnan, Justice Dilip Bhosale and Justice Ms. Tahilramani, have upheld that the Dog sterilization Program should continue and that the Rules framed by the Central Govt. in this regard should be followed. This means that we have to continue our programs for spay / neuter of stray dogs.

Now the bad news is that while Justice Radhakrishnan felt that stray dogs should be shown compassion and kindness and should not be mistreated, just because they have no guardians, the other two Judges viz. Justice Bhosale and Justice Tahilramani felt that the Municipal Commissioner should have the right and power to pick up 'nuisance' dogs and euthanize them. The cause of worry is that the word 'nuisance' can be interpreted differently by different persons, and there can be a misuse of this power vested upon the Municipal Commissioner. On hearing this the animal organizations sought a 6 weeks stay on this order, so that after the Judgment is received and studied, if the need arises, we can request for a review to the High court or appeal to the Supreme Court at Delhi, to get a clarity on what the Court has considered as a 'nuisance dog'. The 6 weeks stay has been granted.

This is to update you on the status of the Stray Dogs matter that has troubled us all in past several years. While we are extremely happy that the Hon'ble Judges have understood the importance of the sterilization program rather than the killing program, this small clarification is very much necessary so that good healthy dogs, found to be 'nuisance' by some are not picked up and euthanized.

With best regards

Yours sincerely,
IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS INDIA

Ms. Sudnya Patkar
Hon. Secretary