The Supreme Court will hear on September 9, a petition highlighting the stray dogs menace in Kerala, with the dog bite figure reaching 10 lakh in the past five years.
The Apex Court decided to hear the case, after an urgent mentioning was made before the Bench led by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit on Monday.
Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate V.K. Biju mentioned that a 12-year old was attacked by a rabid dog, despite taking anti-rabies vaccine. The kid was currently admitted to hospital in a serious condition, he added.
The Advocate pointed out that daily wagers, school-going children and women, besides poor people, were getting attacked frequently. He stressed that it was a very serious issue, which needed urgent hearing.
Stating that Kerala had become the “dogs own country from God’s own country,” the Advocate said that in 2016, the Apex Court had constituted a commission led by former Kerala High Court judge Justice S. Sirijagan, to deal with complaints related to dog bites, as well as to determine the compensation for victims.
He said the Justice Siri Jagan commission had submitted a report before the Supreme Court in 2016, which stated that the stray canine population posed a ‘very serious threat’ to public safety and will continue to remain so, unless it was brought down to manageable levels by the authorities concerned.