'Life imprisonment' for dogs that bite humans twice in Uttar Pradesh

In a first-of-its-kind order, the Uttar Pradesh government on September 10 said dogs that bite a human being without provocation for the first time will be kept at an animal centre for 10 days, and dogs that bite a human for a second time will be kept in the shelter till they die, effectively a sentence of life imprisonment.

Principal secretary Amrit Abhijat issued the order to all urban and rural civic bodies on September 10. The order, meant for the management of aggressive canines, states that if any person takes an anti-rabies vaccine after being bitten by a stray dog, the concerned dog will be taken to the nearest Animal Birth Control Centre.

The dog will then be sterilised if it hadn’t already undergone the procedure, and it will be kept under observation for ten days. Before being released into the streets, the dog will be microchipped, which would have all its details and would help the authorities trace its location in the future.

Also Read: How West Bengal is teaching kids compassion for strays, ways to avoid dog bite

Question of provocation

In order to determine whether the dog was provoked or not, a committee of three people will be set up comprising a person from the municipal corporation, a veterinary doctor from the locality, and a person who understands animal behaviour.

The committee will verify whether the attack by the dog was unprovoked. For example, if the dog bites a person after someone throws a stone at it, it will not be considered an unprovoked attack.

Also Read: Stray dogs made me famous, blessed me too: SC judge who revised Delhi ruling

‘Lifeline’ for dogs

The government has, however, given the dogs a lifeline – a dog can avoid ‘life imprisonment’ if someone agrees to adopt it and submits an affidavit that it would never be set free on the streets again.

The adopter will have to provide all their details while adopting the dog – name, address, phone number, and so on.

Since the authorities would now have the microchipped details about the dog, legal action would be initiated against the adopter if the dog is released.

This directive by the Uttar Pradesh government comes after the recent public outrage against a Supreme Court order that mandated that all stray dogs in Delhi be taken to shelter homes, and the subsequent modification of the order by a larger SC bench that the dogs should be sterilised, vaccinated, and then released in their original locations, with some exceptions.