Stopping someone from feeding strays in non-designated areas is not illegal: Bombay High Court

Mumbai: Stopping a person from feeding stray dogs in non-designated areas cannot be held as "wrongful restraint" or "obstruction" under the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bombay High Court has said.

A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Sandesh Patil quashed a criminal case registered against a 42-year-old Pune resident for allegedly stopping a woman and her friends from feeding stray dogs at the gates of their housing society.

"Stopping a person from wrongfully feeding stray dogs in a non-designated area cannot be said to 'restrain' within the meaning of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita," the HC said.

The judgment passed on December 18, a copy of which was made available on Tuesday, said obstructing someone from feedings dogs on footpaths, entry and exit points of a housing society and school bus stops where children living in the society board and alight, cannot be said to be a voluntary obstruction or wrongful restraint.

The accused had informed the complainant and her friends that the place where they were feeding dogs was not a "feeding spot", the HC noted.

"Hence, we find that obstructing a person from feeding stray dogs in a non-designated area cannot be said to be wrongful restraint," the court said, referring to judgments passed by the Supreme Court on the issue of stray dogs and also the Animal Birth Control Rules which provide for designated feeding areas for such animals.

The alleged obstruction did not have any criminal intent but was meant to ensure the safety of children living in the housing society. As there had been incidents of dog bites and attacks, the accused stopped the complainant and her friends, and such an act by no stretch of imagination can be stated as illegal, said the HC.

As per the First Information Report registered at Hinjewadi police station in January, when the complainant went to a residential society in Hinjewadi area to feed street dogs, the accused and other members of the society took objection and stood in front of her car, preventing her from leaving the spot.

Seeking quashing of the FIR, the accused said there were over 40 stray dogs in the society which was causing a problem for the residents, and there had been several instances of dogs biting people on the premises.