Chetna Tarafdar, a 40-year-old mother living in Ramnagar, Shahdara, has stopped letting her children leave their housing colony, even for a walk or quick errand. Her fear isn’t crime, nor traffic. It’s something far more unpredictable: packs of aggressive stray dogs that prowl the streets.
Just days ago, a child from her colony was attacked by a pack of dogs in a horrifying incident that left the entire neighbourhood shaken.
“The attack left the child traumatised. I won’t take that chance with my kids. I have stopped sending them alone outside the colony gate to play or even to run errands. If a pack attacks, what can a child do?” she said.
Similar fears haunt Katya Prabhakaran in Ghaziabad’s Raj Nagar Extension. Her 11-year-old son is also not allowed to leave the housing society without adult supervision. Even groups of children are barred from stepping beyond the gates of their residential society.
“Security guards are vigilant and don’t allow strays inside the premises. But there’s no one to protect them once they step outside,” she said. “I never thought we would be living in fear of dogs.”
Across Delhi and its adjoining areas, citizens have been living under a cloud of fear, as cases of dog bites and fatal attacks continue to rise at an alarming rate. However, both mothers thanked the Supreme Court for stepping in.
A Judicial Wake-Up Call
On July 28, the top court termed the rising number of dog-bite cases and deaths as “deeply disturbing”, especially among children and the elderly. The bench, led by Justice JB Pardiwala, took a suo motu cognizance of the increasing menace of stray dogs and the failure of civic authorities to get the crisis under control.
The concern gained urgency after the death of a six-year-old girl, Chhavi, after a dog attack in Rohini. She was on her way to her aunt’s house when a stray dog attacked her, biting her repeatedly on her leg, arm and palm. Despite being taken to multiple hospitals for treatment, her condition deteriorated. Less than a month later, she passed away.
Her family recalls that she had started attending school just two days before the incident.
Calling it a matter that required immediate judicial intervention, Justice Pardiwala remarked, “This is the first matter we should take up on the first day of the week.”
The apex court has ordered its registry to register a public interest writ petition under its own motion and directed that it be placed before Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai for further orders and directions. Earlier in May, the Delhi HC had directed the government and other authorities to consider formulating a policy for the rehabilitation of stray dogs in the capital.
A single-judge bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna had asked the Chief Secretary to convene a meeting of all stakeholders to formulate a policy on the removal, rehabilitation and institutional sheltering of stray dogs.
The matter is scheduled for the next hearing on Aug 6.
Numbers a tell-tale
Across the national capital region, anxiety is turning into outrage as dog bite cases continue to surge, hospitals report overcrowding, and lives are being lost to a menace long left unaddressed. Data from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) shows that dog bite cases in Delhi rose from 6,691 in 2022 to 17,874 in 2023, and further to 25,210 in 2024. That’s an overall increase of nearly 277% in just two years.
The surge continues into 2025, with 3,196 cases reported in January alone. According to data cited from Safdarjung Hospital, one of the largest government-run centres, 63,361 dog bite cases in 2021. By July 2025, the number had already climbed to 91,009, surpassing the earlier annual figures by 43.6%. which translates into over 430 cases each day.
At Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, the cases rose from 39,216 between April 2022 and March 2023 to 45,432 between April 2023 and March 2025, marking a 13% increase.
The MCD-run Bara Hindu Rao Hospital also saw a spike, with 4,861 cases till July this year, 40% higher than the 3,468 cases recorded in the same period last year. Beyond Delhi’s borders, the problem is equally severe. In Gautam Buddh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, 74,550 animal bite incidents were logged between January and May, this year alone.
The Rabies Threat
Dog bites pose two major health risks—physical trauma and infections. Even a minor bite can cause deep tissue injuries, nerve damage, or bacterial infections if not treated promptly. But the real danger lies in rabies, a viral disease that attacks the brain and nervous system and is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. Transmitted through the saliva of an infected animal, usually via bites, rabies demands immediate post-exposure vaccination and wound care.
Even a seemingly minor dog bite should never be ignored, as it can quickly escalate into a life-threatening situation if left untreated. Brijesh Solanki, a state-level kabaddi player, died of rabies in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr in July. Around three months ago, Brijesh was bitten by a puppy he was rescuing. However, he ignored it as a minor injury and didn’t take the rabies injection.
According to a study published in The Lancet, rabies killed approximately 5,700 people in India in 2022–23 alone.
Institutional Vacuum
Despite the magnitude of the threat, there has been a long-standing vacuum in institutional response. At the heart of the crisis lies a decades-long neglect. Civic authorities have failed to invest in infrastructure for shelters or enforce sterilisation drives effectively. While NGOs and civic agencies claim to have ramped up sterilisation and vaccination drives under the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme, the results on the ground remain dismal.
Between late 2022 and early 2024, over one lakh sterilisation procedures were carried out in Delhi, surpassing the annual target of 80,000 to 90,000. However, experts say only a few wards have met the target, and the overall sterilisation coverage across the city is far from the ideal 70 to 80 percent.
Citizens can report stray dog issues through the MCD-311 app or the helpline number 155305. These platforms allow residents to request sterilisation drives and receive updates, including photos, once action has been taken. But many remain skeptical about the efficacy of these services.
Frustration has been building for years, worsened by cosmetic efforts that have done little to solve the root problem. Before the 2023 G20 summit in Delhi, stray dogs were rounded up and removed from public view by municipal authorities. But the move was widely criticised as a temporary façade. Once the summit concluded, the dogs were released back onto the streets. There was no widespread sterilisation, no creation of shelters, and no lasting solution.
Lessons from Abroad
Countries across the world have managed the stray dog population through strategies that combine compassion with pragmatism. In most developed nations, stray dogs—many of them abandoned pets—are picked up under legally enforced mandates and placed in shelters.
These dogs are sterilised, microchipped, and made available for adoption. If they are not adopted, they are cared for in these facilities.
Euthanasia is a last resort, applied only when animals suffer from incurable illnesses or pose serious risks due to behaviour. Moreover, abandoning pets attracts harsh penalties.
In France, for instance, pet abandonment is punishable by up to 45,000 euros in fines and three years in prison. In India, however, the laws governing the management of stray dogs limit such interventions. Under the ABC Rules, 2023—framed under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960—dogs must be sterilised, vaccinated, and released back into the same location from which they were picked up. Relocating them to another area or shelter is not permitted, a clause that has been backed by previous Supreme Court rulings.
A Shift in Policy?
After years of inaction, recent months have seen a flurry of meetings and proposals. At a high-level meeting held recently at the Delhi Secretariat, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and ministers Kapil Mishra and Ashish Sood discussed the escalating crisis and acknowledged the need to amend the existing legal framework.
The Delhi government is now contemplating a request to the Centre to modify the ABC Rules and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to allow for the relocation of aggressive or dangerous stray dogs to special shelters, where they could be monitored and receive behavioural treatment.
As per the emerging proposal, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi would be tasked with establishing and managing these shelters. Stray dogs identified as aggressive or involved in repeat biting incidents could be shifted to these facilities. Only after undergoing treatment and showing signs of rehabilitation would they be considered for release back to their original locations.
Meanwhile, the civic administration is taking some steps to ramp up its response. A special committee under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has been formed to launch targeted sterilisation and immunisation campaigns in 12 assembly constituencies. The aim is to achieve 70 to 80 percent sterilisation in each area and, eventually, 100 percent coverage city-wide. Twenty new shelters are also on the drawing board.
Politics and Pushback
Rajpal Singh, member of MCD standing committee, said that a proposal related to stray dog policy was brought before the panel on Wednesday and was unanimously approved by both political and executive wings.
“Delhi is witnessing a rising number of rabies cases due to an increase in dog bite incidents. Since 90 percent rabies patients do not survive, the need of the hour is to sterilise 100 percent stray dogs. The NGOs claim to sterilise 65 percent dogs but the figure is just on papers as the real figure will be around 30-35 percent. The civic agency spends a whopping Rs 1.20 crore every year on sterilisation but the result is almost zero on ground. This is the first time when a policy is going to take shape to provide relief to the city residents,” Singh said.
Singh said that the policy will ensure active participation of corporation leaders, officials, RWAs and social organisations. He said that in principle all the stakeholders have agreed for the cause and the result will be in public domain soon.
Standing committee chairman Satya Sharma said that the proposal in this regard is in its early stages but a committee will be set up and meetings will be scheduled to materialise the plan. “The corporation has aimed to ensure 100 per cent sterilisation of stray dogs in the city,” she said.
Meanwhile, former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Vijay Goel, a long-time critic of the city’s stray dog policies, has pushed for stricter laws against feeding stray dogs, especially those that later attack residents. He urged the Delhi High Court to take a firm stance on the matter, drawing a parallel with a recent Bombay High Court ruling that termed the mass feeding of pigeons a public nuisance and health hazard.
In that case, the court directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to register FIRs against those responsible.
“At this point, the Delhi High Court must step in and ban the feeding of stray dogs. Once these dogs are fed, they often become aggressive and territorial. FIRs should be lodged against individuals who feed dogs that then go on to attack men, women, children or the elderly without any provocation,” he said.
Goel has further demanded that offenders not only face criminal charges but also be slapped with fines, and that compensation be provided to victims of dog bites. Goel plans to file an intervention application at the next Delhi High Court hearing on August 6 to present what he described as the “ground reality” and highlight the barriers hampering effective control of the stray dog population.