If Stray Dogs Attack People, Those Who Feed Them Have to Pay the Hospital Bill: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: There will be hardly anyone who wouldn't react to a dog wagging its tail and looking at them with their innocent eyes on the street. Many of us also feed them with treats like wafers and biscuits. 

Once you feed a dog on the street you become its owner and you will be responsible if that dog bites someone. You also will have to take that dog to the clinic for regular checkup and vaccination. This is not us talking, this is a recent order from The Supreme Court of India. 

A bench of judges of The Supreme Court decided on Friday that those people who feed dogs regularly on the street will now be liable for the vaccination of those dogs and also will be held responsible if any of those dogs bite someone. 

The bench of judges comprising of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice J.K. Maheswari in the order stated that the order has been passed to control the menace of street dogs. 

The judges came up with the decision after hearing the petitions in connection to the stray dogs' menace in Kerala.  

Justice Khanna observed that those people who feed stray dogs would now have to keep a number or marking on the dog they feed so that the authorities concerned can make sure that the dogs they feed regularly are vaccinated and that if any dog bites someone, the person who feeds it will be sent a bill for the hospital expenditure. 

The bench emphasised that it is essential to find the solution of stray dogs' menace and need to create a balance between people who feed stray dogs and also protect innocent people from being attacked by stray dogs.

According to a data, 1.5 crore people in India suffered dog bites since 2019 and highest number of such cases has been registered in states like Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. 

It is worth mentioning that the northeastern state of Manipur has no stray dogs. 

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