New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday said an impression should not be created that human life has lesser value than that of a dog but stressed that stray dogs can be killed only in accordance with the Animal Birth Control Rules. “Let not an impression go out that human life is of lesser value than that of dogs. Human life is divine,” the bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Amitava Roy observed while restraining vigilante groups in Kerala from propagating and imparting training for killing of dogs.
Noting that even dogs are created by divinity, the bench said that a dog can only be killed in accordance with law as it was told that some individuals have made it their “mission” to kill street dogs. Senior counsel Anand Grover told the court that one of them, Jose Maveli, has been arrested seven times, but as the offence of killing dogs is bailable, the person gets out after paying a fine of Rs 50.
Taking note the instance pointed by Grover and Colin Gonsalves where certain groups have been formed to “launch a crusade to kill the stray dogs” and children are being trained how to for the same, the court said that Justice Sri Jagan Committee “shall enquire into the said aspect”.
“We fail to fathom that when there is a law in place to deal with the stray dogs, how the associations and groups can be formed to train the children to kill the stray dogs or an association which can distribute subsidised air guns for people to kill stray dogs or publicly propagate that there must be war against stray dogs,” the court said in its order.
Telling the court that Kerala government “does not intend to remain silent”, senior counsel V. Giri, who appeared for the state government, told the court that the state government was “making immense efforts to curtail the spread of stray dogs and also trying that no stray dog attacks human beings.” –IANS
