‘Will look into it’: Chief Justice of India responds to uproar over Supreme Court's Delhi-NCR stray dog ban

Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Wednesday (Aug 13) said that he would look into the Supreme Court order banning stray dogs from the streets of Delhi-NCR. The CJI's reassurance comes amid uproar over the Indian top court's Monday order that gave concerned authorities the task of picking up thousands of stray dogs in Delhi-NCR within eight weeks and housing them in dedicated dog shelters, which are yet to be set up. The CJI's statement, made two days after the SC order, comes as a ray of hope for animal activists who, for the past couple of days, have been flagging that the action ordered by the SC was, in fact, unlawful.

What did CJI Gavai say?

On Wednesday, the issue of the street dog relocation order was raised before the CJI. He was also made aware of the fact that a previous court order bars the relocation and killing of stray dogs in India. The counsel, as per reports, pointed out a May 2024 order issued by a bench led by Justice JK Maheshwari, which observed that "Exhibiting compassion to all living beings is a Constitutional value."

In response, fanning the hopes of thousands of animal lovers and activists around the nation, the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of India said, "I will look into this".

What did the Supreme Court say in its controversial order on Street dogs?

On Monday (Aug 11), the Supreme Court of India, taking suo motu cognisance of the stray dog population in Delhi-NCR, directed authorities to begin removing street dogs from all localities. They have been asked to catch stray dogs and house them in dedicated dog shelters to be set up by civic bodies.
A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said that all localities should be made free of stray dogs and there should not be any compromise. It also instructed that no captured animal will be released back on the streets. The Supreme Court justices also ordered contempt proceedings against any individual or organisation that attempts to obstruct the authorities from carrying out the capture drive.
"If any individual or organisation comes in the way of picking stray dogs or rounding them up, we will proceed to take action against any such resistance," said Justice Pardiwala.