[Stray Dogs] State must protect citizens from attacks by ferocious dogs but citizens should not take law into own hands: Kerala High Court

Taking note of the frequent instances of dog bites being reported across the State, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday reminded the State Government of its duties to protect citizens from attacks by ferocious stray dogs. [In Re: Bruno (Suo Motu) Public Interest Litigation].A division bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Gopinath P directed the State government to file a report on the steps it intends to take in this regard, including for identifying, containing and removing aggressive dogs from public places."In the report that is proposed to be filed before us on 16.09.2022, the State Government shall also mention the steps taken by it pursuant to our earlier orders while narrating the steps currently proposed to be taken to tackle the menace of dog bites. The State Administration must remind itself of the fact that in its role as a welfare State and as parens patriae of the citizenry it is obliged to protect the citizens from the attack of ferocious dogs by identifying and containing such dogs and removing them from public places", the order stated..Taking note of the submissions from the Bar regarding unauthorised killing of community dogs, the Court directed the government to issue instructions to ensure that the citizenry do not take law into their own hands."Taking note of the said submission and engaged as we are in a balancing of the rights and interests of our citizens vis-a-vis those of animals, we direct the State Government to cause suitable public instructions to be issued through the State Police Chief, clarifying that while the State Administration is taking necessary steps to contain the incidents of dog bites, the citizenry shall also refrain from taking law into their own hands by inflicting unnecessary harm on community dogs," the order said..The Court issued the order in a special sitting it had convened on a suo motu case public interest litigation (PIL) it had initiated in July, 2021 regarding animal cruelty based on the news reports about the alleged cruel and inhuman killing of Bruno, a pet labrador dog, by three minors on the Adimalathura beach in Thiruvananthapuram.The Court later saw it fit to rename the case as “In Re: Bruno (Suo Moto Public Interest Litigation Proceedings initiated by the High Court in the matter of executive and legislative inaction of the State Government in the matter of Protection of Animal Rights)”.Over the past year, the Court had issued various orders with respect to the following aspects :Conducting awareness campaigns to change attitude of citizenryClarifying rules regarding pets in residential complexesReconstituting the State Animal Welfare BoardHolding adoption camps, improving infrastructure of animal sheltersSetting up clinics and augment infrastructure in already existing facilities that can conduct Animal Birth Control (ABC) procedures on community dogs .These orders were issued to monitor the implementation of the ABC procedure throughout the State with a view to keep a check on the proliferation of community dogs, and for ensuring that they were duly vaccinated against infectious diseases, the Court pointed out in its order issued today..The State government is expected to file a detailed report on the stray dogs issue by September 16 when the matter will be taken up next..The State of Kerala has been witnessing burgeoning instances of bites by stray dogs with many such incidents resulting in the death of unfortunate citizens, including children. In the past two months alone, a 12-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy were reported to have been bitten by stray dogs, with the minor girl later succumbing to her injuries. The Kerala government has stated that it has commenced large-scale vaccination drives of stray dogs across the state to prevent rabies infections.In the meanwhile, reports surfaced of large numbers of stray dogs being found dead in certain localities allegedly due to intentional poisoning. The Supreme Court too is seized of the stray dogs issue with it orally suggesting last Friday that the Kerala government should work towards finding a middle ground to tackle the stray dog menace and balance the same with animal rights."Most of us are dog lovers. I also feed dogs ... Have to find a rational way out. I also walk dogs. Some are ferocious. Have to segregate those," Justice Sanjiv Khanna had orally remarked..[Read Order]