Policy on retired army dogs in six months: Centre to Delhi HC

The central government on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it will come out with a policy within six months to stop the practice of killing of army dogs after their retirement or when they were found unfit.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath was told by the central government that the policy could also have humane arrangements for looking after canines post-retirement and sought six months to formulate the policy.

The bench, while granting six months' time to the Centre to come out with the policy, disposed of an PIL that said the act of the army in killing their dogs once their service years were over was cruel and inhuman given the risks that the dogs take consistently through their active years.

The dogs serve the military as sniffers to prevent blasts and also by leading them to criminals by using their sense of smell at a crime scene, helping in the detection and confiscation of the smuggling of narcotics and fetching evidence.

The PIL sought direction to the Defence Ministry and the Army Headquarters that dogs should not be killed.