The Supreme Court may finally prioritise human beings over stray dogs

 Having already given interim directions to remove stray dogs from the premises of public institu­tions, the Supreme Court is currently continu­ing to hear arguments over widening the ambit. It is an important case and will decide how much leeway dogs can have over human lives. The order, when it comes, will probably swing the pendulum back to a middle ground from extreme dog protection laws that exist almost nowhere else in the world. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has made it clear to the court that the government thinks this is a problem that has gone out of hand. Arguing for the dogs, there is Kapil Sibal, a prominent face of the Opposition and once upon a time a Union minister. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is a dog owner himself, has posted on social media against the rights of dogs being diluted. Rajya Sabha member Renuka Chowdhury brought a dog to Parliament to show her support. A number of well-known lawyers besides Sibal are ap­pearing in the case for animal welfare bodies.

Dog lovers are a minority but are active, vocal and organised. Many elites own dogs, and their compassion naturally extends to strays. They can, however, fence themselves off from the issues that an exploding stray dog population has created. The children who get mauled are usually the ones who play on roads. Go to any housing society in any town and ask people at random about where they stand and there will not be many kind words for either dogs or dog feeders. Even judges, who lead insular lives, have not been immune to the problem because the dogs are present on court premises too.

Earlier, to be in favour of dog protection was a form of virtue signalling, but now the menace is so widespread that it is becoming increasingly untenable to maintain the posi­tion that status quo must continue. Or that the movement, health, and peace of humans have to be sacrificed because of rules that state even violent dogs have residential rights and must be suffered. A place like that is called a forest.