SC on Stray Dogs: What the Law Actually Says About Killing Dogs | Supreme Court | N18V

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Municipal bodies and state governments kill stray dogs on mass. Has the [music] Supreme Court authorized indiscriminate killing of stray dogs? Does the law provide for clearing an area by killing all dogs in it? [music] The answer to all these three questions is absolutely not. So, what has the [music] Supreme Court said? We're quoting verbatim here from the recent Supreme Court judgment on stray dogs. And here's me quoting the judgment. In areas where the population of stray dogs has assumed alarming proportions and where incidents of dog bites or aggressive attacks [music] have become frequent and pose a continuing threat to public safety, [music] the concerned authorities may subject to due assessment by qualified vet experts and strictly [music] in accordance with the provisions of the prevention of cruelty to animals act 1960, the animal birth control rules 2023 [music] and other applicable statutory protocols. calls.

[00:00:56]Take such measures as may be legally permissible, including euthanasia in cases involving rabid, incurably ill, or demonstrabably dangerous or [music] aggressive dogs so as to effectively curb the threat posed to human life and safety. Now, this of course [music] was verbatim quoted from that judgment, but uh that's a lot of legalies. What exactly does it mean? What does it mean when the Supreme [music] Court is saying euthanize dogs? Well, to begin with, here's an unequivocal answer by legal experts. They say that this is [music] not a pass for indiscriminate killing of dogs. What the Supreme Court has effectively [music] done has is reiterated the existing law. It has laid down multiple criteria for euthanasia in areas of number one alarming stray dog population [music] and frequent dog bites. It also gives the additional criteria that there has to be an assessment of qualified vex and importantly and thirdly it has to be [music] strictly in accordance with the law. What laws are we talking about?

[00:01:56]We're talking about prevention of cruelty to animals act and the animal birth control rule. So the Supreme Court saying essentially follow the law. But what exactly is the law saying? Well, the animal birth control rules, rule 15 to be specific, [music] very clearly says that providing for euthanasia only in cases of incurably ill and mortally wounded dogs. It also says that to be euthanized, the dog has to be euthanized in a humane manner. Uh there also has to be as per the rules a team for euthanizing the dog which in this case will include jurisdictional vet officer project in charge representative of [music] the state board. The rules also say that there has to be a record for euthanasia to be maintained with reasons and signature of the designated team and in [music] case of rabid or aggressive dogs they are to be captured humanely and [music] kept for observations. These are rule 15 and 16 of the ABC rules which has been cited by the Supreme Court itself. So the court is effectively saying follow the law and the law says [music] there is no indiscriminate killing. There is no case made out for that. So what can you do if dogs are being killed or subjected to cruelty around you? Well, there are lots of measures you can take. Here are five steps you can take which require very little effort on your part. Number one, call the police to register an FIR.

[00:03:18]Section 325 of the BNS very clearly says that there is [music] imprisonment of up to 5 years in case of killing a dog.

[00:03:26]Number two, record evidence. Make videos, make photos, take names, locations, [music] and this is something you can do again with very little effort. Number three, lodge a complaint [music] with the municipal commissioner.

[00:03:38]All of this when being done by a municipal authority [music] can be flagged before a municipal commissioner.

[00:03:43]You can flag it. that such actions are in [music] violation of the ABC rules.

[00:03:48]Number three, as we clearly pointed out, under the ABC rules, very detailed records are to be maintained [music] in case of euthanizing dogs. Number four step is file an RTI for seeking those records. The euthanasia records, the approvals by vet, the approval by the designated team. [music] And number five, approach animal welfare groups.

[00:04:06]There are plenty of them. You can approach groups like PETA, like people for animals who will be happy to come to your aid.

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