Rules only on paper: Who’ll rein in dogs | Chennai News

It is three days since the five year-old girl, R Suraksha, was mauled by two rottweilers at a park in Thousand Lights. While the child is still in the ICU of a nearby hospital, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), which is the ‘licensing authority’ for pets in the city, has done little to address the issue.
Its officials did not take custody of the dogs nor ensure that they were lodged at a pound in the city for observation, as promised by its commissioner J Radhakrishnan on Monday.The owner of the Rottweilers drove them away to Madurai on Tuesday, a day after a message asking him to ‘relocate’ the dogs was pasted on his residence. GCC has instructed the owner to keep the dogs under observation for 10 days in his premises at Muthusamypatti in Madurai. He has to regularly update the GCC officials on the dog's health.
As per the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) guidelines for adverse pet dog situations, in case of a dog bite, the local bodies concerned must seize, impound and quarantine the dog for one to three weeks to observe for any contagious diseases such as rabies. It was not followed by GCC in the latest double rottweiler attack case.
Despite being charged under IPC Sections 289 (animals kept by others causing harm by biting or doing any other act) and 336 (act- ing endangering human life), the pet owners were let off on bail. On Monday, GCC notified the pet owners under Section 44 of the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, that their dogs caused ‘public nuisance’. They asked the owner to ‘relocate’ the dogs within a week, or action would be taken. Also, GCC had earlier planned to quarantine the dogs in a shelter in Koovathur.
Asked about the inaction, Radhakrishnan said GCC allowed the owners to take the unlicensed dogs out of town because Article 51(a) (g) of the Constitution mandated ‘compassion for living creatures.’ “We had to let the dogs go. We cannot seize them by force,” he said.
However, advocate S V Pravin Rathnam flayed such a reading of the Constitution and said: “They should read the article along with Animal Welfare Board India (AWBI) guidelines, which ask local bodies to seize and quarantine biting dogs. The article cannot be interpreted in any which way they want.”
In 2022, a pet German Shepherd dog bit a child in Nolambur, and GCC seized, quarantined and tested the dog for contagious diseases. Even privately-owned cattle that hurt humans have been seized and impounded.
The rottweiler incident has also underscored how pets and their owners have no accountability during an adverse incident. Toothless laws and their lack of enforcement against pet dogs have endangered the city residents.