Copyright opindia
A woman from Delhi has dragged the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to the Delhi High Court for compensation after she was brutally attacked by a pack of stray dogs earlier this year. In the last hearing that took place on 29th October, the MCD sought additional time from the court to file its reply, which was granted by Justice Mini Pushkarna, and the matter will be heard next in March 2026. The petitioner, Priyanka Rai, was reportedly bitten on her feet in March 2025 while returning home riding pillion on a motorcycle. According to the court documents accessed by OpIndia, Priyanka works as an Assistant Branch Manager at a bank. On 7th March at around 9 PM, she was returning home from a nearby market. A pack of stray dogs brutally attacked her in a residential lane near Khirki Village Road, Malviya Nagar. She suffered 42 dog bites, and one of those was a third-degree bite wound on her left foot which caused deep tissue injury, severe bleeding, and physical agony, the court document stated. Petitioner calculates damages using Punjab and Haryana HC formula In her plea, Priyanka relied on a formula devised by the Punjab and Haryana Court in its August 2023 judgment, where the court stated that the compensation should be based on the severity of the injury. The court had directed the Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh governments to compensate dog bite victims with a minimum of Rs 10,000 per teeth mark and Rs 20,000 per 0.2 cm of wound where flesh is pulled off the skin. However, reports stated that even after 10 months of the judgment, the victims continued to wait for the compensation. Using the formula, Priyanka claimed compensation of Rs 12 lakh for a total wound area of 12 cm and Rs 4.2 lakh for 42 tooth marks. She also sought Rs 3.8 lakh for psychological trauma. In total, the compensation sought by Priyanka is worth Rs 20 lakh. According to her submission in court, she continues to live in “psychological fear” due to the condition of stray dogs in her locality. Supreme Court hearing stray dog menace case While her case has made headlines, it is essential to recall the suo motu case being heard by the Supreme Court of India on the stray dog problem in the country. It all started with the death of a six-year-old girl, Chhavvi, in Delhi, who succumbed to a rabies infection months after being bitten by a stray dog. Anguished by the report on the matter in The Times of India, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan took suo motu cognisance and sought a reply from Delhi’s civic body in the matter. On 11th August, just a couple of weeks after the apex court took cognisance, a judgment was passed ordering the MCD to remove all stray dogs from Delhi’s streets in a phased manner. The so-called dog lover lobby, irked by the judgment, rushed to the Chief Justice of India and sought intervention, and the matter was forwarded to a three-judge bench. Within days, on 22nd August, the previous judgment was modified, and the release of dogs was allowed after sterilisation and vaccination. However, the court sought all pending cases related to stray dogs from High Courts across the country to be moved to the Supreme Court and asked all states and UTs to file affidavits on the implementation of ABC Rules in their respective jurisdictions. Interestingly, while individuals and NGOs were allowed to intervene in the case, they could do it only after submitting a deposit of Rs 25,000 for individuals and Rs 2,00,000 for NGOs. On 3rd November, the Supreme Court allowed victims of dog bites to intervene in the ongoing stray dog matter without any deposit. The apex court will next hear the matter on 7th November. Amid the ongoing matter, MCD officials were attacked in Delhi when they tried to pick up dogs for sterilisation and vaccination. A group of self-styled dog lovers not only attacked the MCD van but also threatened officials with consequences if they picked up the dogs. Many self-styled dog lovers have staged protests, and while the Supreme Court has categorically ordered the stopping of public feeding, the dog lovers continued to do so using so-called loopholes in the matter. Why compensation alone is not the solution While Priyanka Rai’s plea has ignited the debate on the accountability of civic bodies once again, the issue of the stray dog menace runs deeper. Priyanka has the knowledge and financial background to drag the MCD to court. However, for every victim who approaches the courts, there are thousands who suffer in silence. Since June, OpIndia has covered over 100 stray dog attacks, and most of the dog bite victims came from marginalised or poor families. Such families neither have the resources to hire lawyers nor the awareness to demand justice. The court’s formula may provide relief to a few, but compensation cannot substitute prevention and policy enforcement. As part of OpIndia’s ongoing series on the stray dog menace, it is essential to underline that civic bodies have failed to manage the stray dog population, mainly due to the ABC Rules that came into effect in 2001 under the leadership of then-MP Maneka Gandhi and were revised in 2023 again under her leadership. Because of strict rules against the removal of dogs from the streets even if they are attacking people, both urban and rural spaces have turned into potential danger zones. RTI reveals over 26 lakh dog bite cases in 2025 alone According to a reply to an RTI filed by OpIndia, the Directorate General of Health Services, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) revealed that India has already recorded 26 lakh dog bite cases in 2025 till July, while 2024 witnessed over 37 lakh such cases. Such a high number of dog bite cases highlights the scale of the menace and exposes how the ABC Rules have failed to control it. As civic bodies across the country have failed to strictly enforce sterilisation drives, shelter management, initiatives to stop pet abandonment, and public awareness programmes, the dog population continues to rise. Compensation, even when granted, will remain a privilege accessible only to a few. A growing public safety crisis Every year, millions are bitten, and justice is nowhere to be found. Adequate medical aid is still a farce as victims are dying even after receiving all shots of anti-rabies vaccines. As the Supreme Court prepares to hear from victims, the question remains: will India continue to treat the stray dog crisis as a humanitarian debate or finally as a public safety emergency? OpIndia is doing a series on the stray dog menace in India which can be checked here.
