Mumbai's stray dogs get a breather

Mumbai’s street dogs can owe their lives to a string of noted lawyers. The latter won the day for the strays on Friday in the Supreme Court by securing a stay on the Bombay High Court’s virtual death warrant against them. Standing in their defence and making a strong plea—both legally and on humanitarian grounds—were noted constitutional experts Fali S Nariman and T R Andhyarujina, who appeared for different NGOs, and seen supporting them was Solicitor General G E Vahanvati, representing the Maharashtra government. But it took the lawyers some time to convince a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam that the dogs deserved a better deal, statutorily. They said the high court erred by ordering the extermination of strays, and that too, by conferring the municipal commissioner such discretionary powers, which were the statute—Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Animal activist lawyer Raj Panjwani said the street dog population of Mumbai had been reduced to 75,000 from six lakh in the last few years through drives carried out under the law, and that there was no need to put the animals to death. Nariman began the argument saying one may not be a dog lover, but it did not make sense to order the extermination of stray dogs. “Such discretionary powers have been conferred on the commissioner that he could sign the death warrant of a street dog on a single complaint from a resident about its barking in the night,’’ he said. Both Vahanvati and Andhyarujina said the HC order was in conflict with the all-India law, which provided a framework for killing strays when they were rabid, violent or terminally ill. The bench was initially reluctant to grant relief saying that when a dog goes mad or starts biting people, it required urgent action. But the lawyers and activists standing stoutly behind the cause of Mumbai’s strays had little to fear as the bench relented and stayed the HC order.