In cities across the country, the feral animals are both loved and feared. The judges are forging into intensely emotional territory by going after the ones in the capital.

Stray dog control has become a lightning rod civic issue in Delhi, NCR and other Indian cities. While many residents see them as a menace, others consider them like family; court directives appear Herculean to implement,

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.