Shillong, Aug 30: Stating that stray dogs in Meghalaya are ones that mostly bite people, the Meghalaya High Court has ordered the State government to catch and vaccinate all stray dogs and to also observe their nature before releasing them from dog shelters.
The High Court also said that the menace posed by stray dogs in the State is peculiarly distinctive unlike in other parts of the country.
In an order issued today on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by senior lawyer Kaustav Paul, the division bench of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh said that quite a number of stray dogs in the State are “biter dogs” and very vicious in nature that they suddenly attack people resulting in grievous injuries to dog bite victims.
“Having heard those submissions in this Public Interest Litigation, we had inter alia, directed those dogs to be taken hold of by the public authorities, inoculated, vaccinated, medically attended to and then kept in shelters for observation before setting them free. With dogs of this nature, freeing them without satisfaction that they have ceased to be biter dogs, and allowing them to frequent public places would pose grave danger to the public,” the court said.
Further, since a similar case related to stray dogs is also being taken up by the Supreme Court, the Meghalaya High Court decided to make a formal application in the apex court on the basis of this order and seek retention of this PIL in the High Court because of the “peculiar and distinctive feature”.
