Kill stray dogs causing nuisance: HC

Mumbai: Stray dogs causing 'nuisance' can be put to sleep, Bombay High Court said on Friday, Dec 20. Two judges out of three-member full bench on Dec 20 judgement held that Municipal Commissioner has the discretion to order killing of a stray dog if it is causing trouble to general public.

The discretion has to be used judiciously and it doesn't mean that the municipal authorities has an unbridled power to kill all the strays, judges warned. The court said there is no definition to 'nuisance' and a mere barking would not be nuisance enough. In other words dog cannot be killed if barking is the only problem it is causing.

However an NGO, 'In Defence Of Animals', which is opposed to discretion granted to Commissioner, has decided to appeal in the Supreme Court, its lawyer Rahul Thakur said. High Court has stayed the judgement for six weeks. According to a survey conducted last year by the BMC there are 70,182 stray dogs in the city.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)