Don’t dogs ever bite you, Telangana HC asks GHMC staff

Hyderabad: Taking serious note of the increasing number of dog bites, the Telangana High Court on Thursday pulled up GHMC officials for failing to curb such incidents, questioning the civic body why strays were roaming freely while it claimed to be taking steps to relocate them to shelters.

Hearing a suo motu public interest petition over the death of a four-year-old boy, in an attack by stray dogs in Amberpet last month, the division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji asked Katika Ravindhar Reddy, GHMC counsel, “Don't dogs ever bite you (GHMC staff)?”

The court ordered the GHMC to list steps it has taken to relocate stray dogs, to which the GHMC counsel submitted an affidavit, claiming that shelter houses had been set up to contain them and that sterilisation was being done regularly.

When GHMC counsel informed the court that Rs 8 lakh in compensation had been provided to the family of four-year-old Pradeep, who was mauled to death by stray dogs in Amberpet, the court stated that it was of little consolation to the bereaved family. “Such situations should not occur in a civilised community,” the court observed.

Meanwhile, counsel Mamidi Venumadhav filed an implead petition claiming that the animal birth control of dogs has been taking place since 1996 by sterilisation method and other ways, and that crores of rupees have been spent on it. Stating that there was no beneficial outcome, he accused the officials of swindling the funds meant for such measures.

He brought to the court's attention an incident in which a two-year-old boy was killed by stray dogs in April 2022. “Such incidents occur because the authorities pretend to initiate action with effective outcomes,” Venumadhav contended.

The court allowed the implead petition and ordered the member secretary of the Telangana State Legal Services Authority to inspect the GHMC-managed stray dog shelter homes and submit a report by June 8.