SC Issues Notice To U.P. Govt. On Alleged Culling Of Stray Dogs

The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government and the Animal Welfare Board of India on a plea alleging that stray dogs were being killed in Sitapur district of the state as they had killed children.

Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations sought a direction from the apex court to stop the alleged culling of dogs.

The bench has posted the plea, filed by Gargi Srivastava, for hearing on June 8.

The petition has sought a direction to the state government to ensure that no more killings of community dogs take place in the state as an after-effect of the death of 13 children in the past seven months in Sitapur unless it was established that dogs were behind such attacks.

According to the Plea

The plea said that subsequent investigations had pointed towards attacks on children by wild animals and not stray dogs. It has alleged that there was “indiscriminate and inhuman killing” of stray dogs in Sitapur on the mere assumption that the deaths were being allegedly caused by dog attacks.

The attacks have increased due to lack of proper and timely efforts by the district administration and the magnitude of the problem grew this month when unconfirmed reports of attacks being carried out by stray dogs appeared in the media after statements by the district magistrate of Sitapur.

“This rampant massacre led to over 150 community dogs being brutally killed over a span of few days by not only the local people but also under orders of the village panchayats, police officials as well as the officers from district administration,” it claimed.

“The applicant herein is conscious of the plight of the families of the victims and cannot even imagine their grief but the approach of the government and the administration in brushing aside this issue and leading to culling of numerous dogs in the area is nothing but a failed attempt to cover up their inactions as per earlier orders of this court in the instant matter,” the plea said.

The petition said that animal welfare groups had constituted a committee which visited Sitapur and found that massacre of dogs was allowed by the district administration and the police. It alleged that according to the local people, the district administration had hired people to catch and kill dogs and they were being paid Rs 600 per dog.

It has sought a direction to the state government to take immediate action and lodge FIRs against individuals who were involved in aiding and abetting the killing of stray dogs without following the due process of law and also initiate the inquiry against erring officials of the district administration of Sitapur.

It said the state animal welfare board of Uttar Pradesh should be asked to act in accordance with directions passed by the apex court earlier and Animal Welfare Board of India should be directed to ensure that animal welfare laws in the country were diligently followed.

Reference: The Times Of India

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