Srinagar, May 2: Moved by the terror, which the stray dogs have unleashed by breaking all known records of attacks on humans in this summer Capital, the High Court Bar Association (HCBA) has finally moved High Court praying for directions that the stray packs be killed.
 A petition filed by noted lawyer and High Court Bar Association President, Mian Abdul Qayoom, has touched a variety of aspects including the Municipal Corporation Act of 2000 and the view of Gandhi Ji, over the issue of killing such animals.
 He also referred to news reports on dogs menace, mostly from Greater Kashmir, to plead his point.

THE PLEAS
 The HCBA pleaded that the “bloodbath given by the prowling dogs has created a havoc which has never been witnessed before.”
 “These prowling dogs have threatened the very existence of the people of the state. Even though it is the primary duty of the state to protect the human life, but the state as usual failed to ensure the safety and dignity of the people,” Qayoom has said adding “the newspapers are replete with the stories of increasing dog attacks on the human being, which has caused scare in the people.”

POWERS WITH GOVT
 He said: “In terms of Section 304 of the Municipal Corporation Act of 2000, the Commissioner is empowered to destroy or cause to be destroyed any dog who is without a collar or without a mark and is found straying on the streets or beyond the enclosures of the houses of their owners.”
  Mian Qayoom also pleaded that “under Section 12 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1990, a Magistrate can order destruction of any horse, mule or donkey suffering from a painful, incurable or contagious disease and whose sufferings are such, as to justify its destruction.”
 “Those of the dogs who bite human beings and have made their life miserable, are definitely suffering from a disease, which cannot be cured except by their destruction and if a horse, mule or donkey can be destroyed by an order of a Magistrate, why can't the same be done with a stray dog, is an important issue which deserve to be considered by the Hon'ble Court, before passing any kind of other direction in the matter,” he added.

GANDHIJI FACTOR
 Referring to Gandhi Ji, who extensively wrote about the duties of people towards animals, specifically about dogs on the streets and their welfare; Qayoom said, even Gandhiji approved the idea of killing of stray- dogs on the ground that roaming dog without an owner is a danger to society.
 “While replying the queries of all those who were angry with him over the killing of stray dogs, he (Gandhi ) said that ‘I am therefore, strongly of the opinion that if we practice the religion of humanity, we should have a law making it obligatory on those who have dogs, to keep them under guard and not to allow them to stray and making all stray dogs to be liable to be destroyed after a certain date’,” Qayoom said.

THE PRAY
 “In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, the respondents deserve to be directed to kill all stray dogs in terms of the aforesaid provisions of law and precedence and save the society of the danger of being extinct,” the HCBA President has pleaded adding the “Court may also pass any other order or direction which it may deem fit and proper under the facts and circumstances of the case.”

THE TURNING POINT
 Sometime back Greater Kashmir carried a news report that mere one lawyer was fighting the case of humans while five had been defending the case of dogs, for a dog menace PIL.
 The HCBA President had said he didn’t volunteer to fight the case pleading that it could be taken as some vested interest.
 “If somebody comes with a complaint I will definitely fight it,” Qayoom had said. As the news report hit the stands, Sheikh Inayatullah, a Kashmir University student from the old City, filed a written complaint before the HCBA President.
 Within a few days the dog attacks escalated to a level that at least 51 people fell prey to dog bites in the City in a day while 13 were bitten in the City centre alone.
 The bloodbath was seriously taken by the people from various strata of the society with many including former IAS officer Muhammad Shafi Pandit and former JK Bank CEO Dr Haseeb Drabu expressing their views in newspaper columns.
 The HCBA on the other hand, held a high level meeting and decided that the lawyers’ body would plead the case of humans prompting their President to formally file the application before the High Court.
 Earlier following the “worsening situation of the dog menace” prominent lawyer Advocate Mir Syed Lateef who was pleading the case of dog rights withdrew citing “moral responsibility towards the society.”

BOTTOMLINE
 Though the government has been insisting sterilization of dogs as the sole solution to the problem, a million dollar question posed last year by the then Chief Justice FM Ibraheem Kalifullah remains unanswered: Will a dog stop biting after sterilization?

Lastupdate on : Wed, 2 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 2 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 3 May 2012 00:00:00 IST