To

The Hon’ble Prime Minister

India

Sub – Petition for relief from stray dog incidents

Hon’ble Prime Minister Sir,

We, the aggrieved citizens of India, with this petition, humbly request your direct intervention in the stray dog menace across the country. According to WHO estimates, 36% of global deaths by rabies happen in India, at 18,000-20,000 a year. [2] About 30-60 percent of dog bite cases and deaths occur in children aged under 15. [3] There is an average of 10,000 cases of dog bites happening in our country with news in the public domain indicating that this has increased significantly across the country. [1]

We have further seen that AWB guidelines are contributing more towards the animosity and further cause of concern and incidents. The AWB guidelines are overly skewed towards giving enormous powers to stray dog feeders, infringing upon human rights, and increasing the possibility of conflicts between man and his best friend.

Hence, we would like your direct intervention in scrapping the current AWB guidelines and revisiting the various provisions with balanced protection of human and animal rights.

In addition, we request you ensure the following in the new guidelines:-

1. All dog feeders should be registered with the local municipal corporations and should be provided with an identity. 

2. Dog feeders should be liable for controlling the population of dogs, health, feeding, sterilization, and vaccination, failing with they should be liable for punishment and prosecution.

3. All dogs that are managed by dog feeders should have ear tagging with identification issued by the municipal corporation. These tags are linked to the Adhaar number of the feeder. These dogs will be called "community" dogs. Dogs without tags will be considered "strays".   

4. Any community dog attack on citizens may result in the criminal prosecution of the dog feeder attached to it and may result in the relocation of all dogs from society to some common area earmarked by municipal corporations at the discretion of RWA/Panchayat/Local body. It is the responsibility of the feeder to notice the aggressive dogs. Residents can also identify a dog as aggressive and report it to the feeder.

5. Individual citizens and building societies should also enjoy the adequate powers to file police complaints if dog feeders violate the norms laid down in the new guidelines. The existing immunity and protection should be revised to create a better balance of legal rights. 

6. Dog feeding should happen outside the building society, at least 500 meters away from the children's play area and facilities for the elderly at designated spots outside the building societies or residential areas. 

7. Existing provisions that give this opportunity to dog feeders to intimidate residents and make them vulnerable to extortion, or create an imbalance of rights should be revisited. The purpose is to also balance Human Rights and Animal Rights at the same time and reduce conflicts. 

8. Innocent animals should be protected from cruelty but those animals attacking humans should be kept away by municipal corporations who are not owned by any dog feeder. A complaint filed by more than three residents in the locality should be enough for municipal corporations to relocate them to a much safer place.

9. At the request of the building society, the municipal corporations should remove the community dogs from the building society to the designated central spots of municipal corporations. For special townships like Integrated Township, the management of that township will make the decision. The consent of ten or more people should be sufficient for RWAs to initiate action. 

Needless to say, this stray dog menace has reached unbearable proportions. We have no hope from the various authorities who have chosen to become mere mute spectators. Hence, we are compelled to submit to you directly with the hope of intervention. By making laws balanced, greater harmony is expected between humans and animals, and it will build a healthier ecosystem.

We hope that you will intervene and direct the relevant department/ministry to take immediate action. Failure to get relief from this will leave us with no other alternative than to press NOTA during all subsequent elections till such time we see a resolution. Needless to say, we fully understand both humans and animals need to be treated with empathy and love and any new provision should incorporate both. 

Warm Regards

Aggrieved Citizens of India.  

References:

[1] Over 5,500 dog bite cases a day in 2022, though lower than pre-Covid count

[2] Rabies in India by WHO

[3] Stray dog menace