The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday gave signs that it could pay a high compensation to states in every dog bite attack, and in any death of a person due to an attack of stray dogs as well as require those who feed stray dogs to be responsible of attack that has led to serious or life time effects. The bench which included Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria doubted why the stray dogs should be left to roam freely in the open areas and that the people that feed them should be given the responsibility of keeping the animals in their premises or homes.
In the hearing, states and Union Territories (UTs) were strongly criticized by the bench because of their inability to put into practice statutory provisions regarding the stray dog management. The court observed that the number of stray dogs had increased exponentially due to lack of action over the past decades claiming that the problem had increased by thousands and thousands in the past 100 years, by billions and billions. The justices cautioned that the states might end up paying hefty compensation in each instance of dog bite and death due to carelessness of the authorities in the implementation of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.
The court also emphasized that owners of stray dogs cannot get away with feeding. You bring them home to your house, keep them. Why then should they be allowed everywhere…run about loitering, scaring, biting and chasing? It is not a case that one forgets the effect of being bitten by a dog, said the bench. Another aspect that the court posed some tough questions on is accountability whereby, who is to be held accountable in cases where children or the elderly are assaulted by dogs that are being fed by organized gangs or institutions. Who is supposed to be held accountable when a child of nine years is killed by dogs, which are fed by a certain organization? Should the damages not be made liable on the organization? the justices questioned.
These were observed on the fourth day of hearings on the matter of the stray dog management due to the growing incidents of dog bites and the continued lackadaisical attitude of the municipal authorities.
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