The ongoing Supreme Court hearing in the stray dog case rejected comparisons between animal cruelty videos and dog attacks.
The bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and NV Anjaria stated that they did not want the case proceedings to turn into a competition between animal cruelty videos and dog attacks on humans.
The court’s remarks came after Senior Advocate Raj Shekhar Rao urged the Supreme Court bench to review videos documenting the alleged mistreatment of stray dogs during the ongoing stray dogs case hearing.
Advocate Rao, who is representing an animal welfare organisation, urged the bench to look into the matter. He said that the court’s interim order in the stray dogs case shouldn’t resemble a final judgment. He recalled the court’s recent order on collective compassion for wildlife.
Upon hearing Advocate Rao’s statements, Justice Sandeep Mehta cleared the bench’s stand on the Stray dog case, declining to entertain animal mishandling videos. The bench said, ‘There are lots of videos of dogs attacking children and the elderly, we do not want contest.” according to NDTV.
The hearing also discussed the Capture, Sterilise, Vaccinate, and Release (CSVR) model. Advocate Raj Shekhar Rao urged the bench to consider giving six months’ time to institutions to tackle the situation on their own, as the CSVR model is being implemented and the dog population in the campus law centre, Delhi University has significantly reduced.
The inital order in the stray dog case dates back to August 2025 when a two-judge supreme court bench ordered Delhi-NCR authorities to capture all strays, sterilise, vaccinate, and permanently shelter stray dogs.
The decision sparked nation-wide protest demanding to reserve the Supreme court order. The couse was then transefered to a larger bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and NV Anjaria which in their August 22 order upheld August 11 order and directed mandates of ABC Rules (Capture-Sterilise-Vaccinate-Release) and bans street feeding.
While the Supreme court proceeding in the matter continues, the next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, 13th January 2026.
