Laws such as the PCA Act, 1960, and the ABC Rules, 2023, form the cornerstone of dog protection in India. These rules ban the killing of healthy stray dogs, allowing euthanasia only in cases where a vet confirms a dog is terminally sick or mortally injured.

Supreme Court's directions were given in a case the top court took up suo motu on July 28 after what it said was a “very disturbing and alarming” newspaper report about the death of a six-year-old girl due to rabies.

India’s top court has ordered authorities in New Delhi to start removing all stray dogs from its streets and to sterilize and relocate them to shelters permanently.