The Supreme Court has now redrawn the battle lines in the country’s long and troubled relationship with its street dogs. After weeks of controversy over an earlier directive to confine every stray in the national capital region (NCR) within newly built shelters, the court has shifted course, opting instead for a calibrated balance between public safety and animal welfare. The new order allows healthy, non-aggressive dogs to be sterilised, vaccinated, and returned to their capture sites ~ a return to the globally recognised model of population control that India had already legislated.

At the same time, it insists that rabid or aggressive animals be confined in shelters, and it bans the feeding of strays in public places, requiring municipal bodies to designate proper feeding zones. Adoption has been permitted through civic authorities, but adopted dogs must not be sent back to the streets. This is a significant correction. The earlier blanket directive to round up........

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