August 22, 2025
NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court will pronounce its order on Friday on pleas challenging its August 11 directive to round up all stray dogs in the Delhi-NCR region and keep them in designated shelters within eight weeks.
A three-judge bench led by justice Vikram Nath, and also comprising justices Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria, had reserved its order on August 14.
The bench ruling will decide the fate of thousands of stray dogs roaming freely in the national capital and its adjoining cities.
On August 11, a bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan had directed municipal authorities in Delhi to start rounding up stray dogs, prioritising vulnerable localities, and to set up shelters with at least 5,000-dog capacity within eight weeks.
However, directive triggered widespread protests from animal rights activists and individual ‘dog lovers’, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who termed the top court’s directive “cruel and shortsighted”.
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The apex court’s order also received a sharp reaction from animal rights watchdog PETA India. In a statement, PETA India said that the removal of all stray dogs from streets in Delhi-NCR is not scientific and the move will lead to their starvation.
Several people also took to streets to proteat against the Supreme Court directive. A group of animal rights activists held demonetisations in front of India Gate.
The matter was mentioned before Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, citing overlapping SC proceedings on stray dogs before different Benches. Following this, CJI Gavai constituted a three-judge bench was to hear the issue.