Noting that "children are fundamental embodiment of human race and they deserve protection," the Supreme Court today sought a response from the Centre and Kerala government on a fresh plea seeking their protection from stray dogs in the state.
A bench, comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant, issued a notice to the government while seeking its reply within four weeks on a PIL filed by an NGO and tagged the petition with a bunch of pleas on similar issue.
"Appreciating submission that children are fundamental embodiment of human race and they deserve protection from any kind of attack by stray dogs, we are inclined to issue notice. Issue notice on the writ petition...," the bench said.
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During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the NGO submitted certain newspaper clippings which showed that the children had been bitten by the stray dogs and suffered serious injuries.
He also submitted that there has to be protection for the children from stray dogs because children become easy and innocent targets for these kind of dogs.
The directions came while hearing a plea filed by NGO Janaseva Sisubhavan which has sought sterilization of stray dogs for controlling their population.
In its plea, the NGO has also sought compensation to dog bite victims and availability of sufficient medicines in hospitals across the country for free treatment of poor people bitten by dogs.
The court had earlier allowed the elimination of only "irretrievably ill or mortally wounded" stray dogs in a "humane manner" and had asked all states and union territories to go by the central rules on the issue.
Maintaining that a "balance between compassion for animals and human lives" has to be struck, the court had said the "life of a dog is not more important than the life of a human being... Life is the glorious gift of nature and the compassion for animals and human lives should harmoniously co-exist.
