A bench of Supreme Court Justices comprising Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria heard the case of street dogs in India on Tuesday and said heavy compensation will be imposed on states for every dog bite death.
Those who feed dogs will be held accountable: SC
While hearing the matter, Justice Vikram Nath said those who feed dogs will be held accountable, adding that the top court has become a "public platform" for the issue rather than a court proceeding.
SC says state govts failed miserably to implement ABC Rules
The apex court asked all state governments, saying they "failed miserably" to implement the ABC Rules. "We are going to take the Union government and state governments to task. The issue has been ongoing forever. You yourself have mentioned that parliament has been looking into it since the 1950s. It is because of the Union and state governments that the problem has multiplied 1000 times. Complete failure on the part of the Union and state governments. For every man, woman and child who has lost their lives to a dog bite, we will impose heavy compensation on the government responsible," the bench said.
"We need to spend half a day with the States and Union. To see whether they have a plan of action or not. We just want implementation of statutory provision. Allow us to do that. This has become a public platform rather than a court proceeding. For every dog bite, for every death, we will be likely fixing heavy compensation for states for not making requisite arrangements. And also liability to dog feeders," the top court bench said.
Lawyer calls stray dogs issue an ‘emotional matter’
The remark came in response to advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who called the stray dogs issue an "emotional matter". The Suprme Court bench in the last hearing on January 8 highlighted the lack of proper implementation of ABC rules while also schooling dog lovers, including the counsel of actor Sharmila Tagore, who is one of the petitioners, of being "far from reality".
Last week, the Supreme Court said it would not go into the allegations of harassment of women dog feeders and caregivers by purported anti-feeder vigilantes since it was a law and order issue and the aggrieved persons could lodge FIRs about it. Hearing arguments in the stray dogs case, the apex court also refused to go into the claims about certain derogatory remarks being made about women in the issue.
A three-judge special bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria observed that some of the arguments made before it were "far from reality" and there were a number of videos of stray dogs attacking children and the elderly.
The top court was hearing arguments on pleas, including the ones filed by dog lovers, seeking modification of its earlier orders and those for stringent compliance with the directives. Senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani highlighted the plight of women dog feeders and caregivers and said anti-feeder vigilantes have assumed the role of enforcing the apex court's order passed earlier in the matter. "Under the garb of this, they are harassing women, they are molesting women, and they are beating women," she said.
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