Ankur Raghav Solicitor General said that nobody is an animal hater, appearing for the government during the SC hearing.
The Supreme Court had passed an order on the issue of stray dogs in Delhi, which had also met with a lot of criticism from netizens. However, in the SC stray dogs hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government, said that nobody is an animal hater.
Solicitor General backs SC order of stray dogs’ relocation.
Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, appearing for the government during the Supreme Court hearing of cases relating to stray dogs, said that he has seen people posting videos of eating meat and then claiming to be animal lovers. Backing the Supreme Court order of relocation of Delhi-NCR stray dogs, he said, “There is a very loud vocal minority and silent suffering majority.” LiveLaw quoted him saying, “Thirty seven lakhs a year, 10,000 per day. This is dog bites. Rabies deaths – 305 deaths for the same year, WHO’s modelling shows a much higher number.” He added that nobody is an animal hater.
“This is my stand, not the government’s stand.”
Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court, “This is my stand, not the government’s stand. Your lordships will have to find a solution. Ultimately, the solution is not in the Rules. A vocal minority views as against the silent suffering majority view.”
Hearing a suomotu case over dog bites in Delhi, the SC had ordered the picking up of all canines from the streets of Delhi-NCR within eight weeks, directing authorities to create shelters to house them and not release them back. Mehta said people are unable to send the children out to play in the open due to the stray dog menace. The bench stated that they are taking these directions, with the larger public interest in mind.
