Dog bites now responsibility of court: Vijay Goel

New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) Former Union minister Vijay Goel on Friday said there are about one million stray dogs in Delhi and dog bites will now be the "responsibility" of the court and the organisations that want them to remain on the streets.

Goel, who has been running the 'No Dogs On Streets' campaign in Delhi, said in a statement that human life is more important as Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life and personal liberty.

The Supreme Court, earlier in the day, modified its direction prohibiting the release of vaccinated stray dogs from pounds in Delhi-NCR, calling it "too harsh" and ordered their release post sterilisation and de-worming.

Goel claimed that it was a result of his three-year-long movement that both the government and the court took up the issue of stray dog menace seriously.

The disputes over feeding dogs in residential areas will now come to an end after the court order, he said.

The BJP leader reiterated his demand for an amendment to the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.

He said he hopes the dog lovers will no longer "obstruct" municipal work or resort to "vandalism" in stopping them.

Dog lovers should also respect the order to permanently keep aggressive and rabies-spreading dogs in enclosures, he said. · The Supreme Court's three-judge bench did not accept only one point, which is sending all stray dogs to shelters, likely due to the inadequate number of shelters, the former minister said.

"No matter how much sterilisation or vaccination is done, biting incidents will not stop. There are about one million dogs on the streets of Delhi. If they bite, the responsibility will lie with the Supreme Court or with those organisations that want dogs to remain on the streets," he said.

The former Delhi BJP president also asserted that his movement would continue. PTI VIT VN VN