SC seeks panel's report on compensating dog-bite victims in Kerala

The Supreme Court today sought a status report from a committee appointed by it to look into the treatment of people bitten by stray dogs in Kerala and their claims of compensation.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud directed the three-member committee headed by a former Kerala High Court judge to file the report in four weeks after it was alleged that the dog bite victims, despite being awarded the compensation by the panel, had not yet been paid by the state government.

The bench has sought details of the victims of dog-bites who have been awarded the compensation, but not yet received it.

The panel, headed by former judge Justice S S Jagan, had earlier told the court that over one lakh people in Kerala have been bitten by dogs in 2015-16, while warning that frequent stray dog attacks on children in the state had created a dangerous situation.

"India is a nation with substantial fatal rabies cases, mainly due to stray dog bites. Kerala is estimated to have a stray dog population of 2.5 lakhs, which feed lavishly on the wastes and garbage dumps across cities and towns. Frequent stray dog attacks on children in Kerala have created a dangerous situation.

"There have been incidents of stray dogs chasing, attacking and biting school children, aged persons, pedestrians, morning walkers and two-wheeler riders...More than one lakh people in the state have been bitten by dogs in 2015-16," the panel, which also comprised the state law secretary and the director health services, had said in its earlier report.

The apex court had expressed unhappiness over the increasing cases of dog bites in Kerala and asked the state government to take steps to ensure that such cases are checked.

The Kerala government had last year informed the court that Justice S S Jagan committee has been considering and deciding on the claims of the victims of dog bites and so far, 154 such claims, out of total 752, have been decided and 18 compensation claims already settled.

It had said that the state government has asked District Panchayats to earmark 2-3 acre plots in every panchayats to set up of "dog zoos".

The court had asked the Kerala government to take action on the reports of the Justice Jagan committee on award of compensation to dog bite victims. The bench had said the key issue to be decided was whether the Dog Rules, 2001, framed by the central government under the mandate of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 would override state laws on curbing the menace of lethal stray canines.

The Dog Rules were framed in line with the Animal Birth Control programme of WHO which provide that instead of culling the dogs, they should be sterilised and immunised.

The top court had in November 2016 restrained vigilante groups in Kerala from imparting training to children and distributing air guns to people at subsidised rates to kill stray dogs and publicly propagate that there was a "war" against canines in the state.

A batch of petitions by various NGOs and individuals is being heard by the apex court, which had in 2016 set up the panel headed by the former Kerala High Court judge to inquire into the incidents of common people and children killing stray dogs and the support rendered to this by several vigilante groups in the state.