Delhi's street dogs will not be taken to shelter, says India's top court

India's Supreme Court has modified its previous order asking authorities in Delhi and its suburbs to move all stray dogs into shelters amid widespread protests by animal welfare groups, reports BBC.

The three-judge bench said that strays should be released after being vaccinated and sterilised, but added that dogs with rabies or aggressive behaviour should be immunised and kept in shelters.

The court also banned the feeding of stray dogs in public spaces and ordered dedicated areas to be set up for the purpose.

On 11 August, a two-judge bench had expressed concern over the rising "menace of dog bites leading to rabies" in Delhi and its suburbs.

Delhi's stray dog population is estimated at one million, with suburban Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram also seeing a rise, municipal sources say.

India has millions of stray dogs, and the country accounts for 36% of the total rabies-related deaths in the world, according to the World Health Organisation.

To deal with the dog menace, on 11 August, the Supreme Court ordered authorities in the capital and its suburbs to round up all stray dogs and put them in shelters.

It ordered authorities to build shelters to house these dogs in eight weeks' time.

The order went against existing rules that state that stray dogs should be released to their original site after being sterilised at shelters, sparking strong protests and legal challenges from several animal welfare groups.

They called for more humane solutions like vaccination and neutering, and warned that putting all strays in shelters would lead to problems like overcrowding and culling.

Following the backlash, the Supreme Court set up a three-judge bench to hear the challenge.

In Friday's ruling, the court stayed the earlier order to round up all strays, stating that non-aggressive, non-infected dogs could be released to their capture site after being vaccinated and neutered.

The court also said that animal lovers could apply to municipal corporations to adopt stray,s but that these dogs were not to be returned to the street.