Dog attacks Violate Human Rights: PIL

A petitioner, Kirtikumar Bhatt, on Tuesday submitted before the Gujarat HC that inaction by of the authorities on preventing stray dogs from attacking humans is a violation of human rights & a violation of the UN Convention on Rights of the Child.

Based on Bhatt’s Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the High Court issued notice to the authorities in January. However, Bhatt sought to add to his arguments & maintained that numerous dog attacks on people were a gross violation of the human rights of citizens of India. More than 17 million people suffer dog bites & about 18,000 people lose their lives to rabies every year in this country. The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, comes within purview of the Internal Security Division-III of the ministry of home affairs, reads Bhatt’s petition.

The petitioner further stated that majority of victims of stray dog attacks are children. The United Nations had brought out a ‘Convention on Rights of the Child’ in 1989, & India acceded to it in 1992. Thus, attacks & killing of children by strays is a violation of the convention, Bhatt argued. In his Public Interest Litigation (PIL), Bhatt sought directions to the city police commissioner & the municipal commissioner to use police forces to curb the stray dog menace.

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