'Hundreds of dog bites!’: Supreme court takes suo motu cognisance
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of a media report about incidents of dog bites leading to rabies.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan termed the news item published today in an English daily's Delhi edition as "very disturbing and alarming", PTI reported.
"The news item contains some alarming and disturbing figures and facts," the bench said.
It said every day, hundreds of dog bites were being reported in the city and on its outskirts, leading to rabies and ultimately, children and the aged were falling prey to the dreadful disease.
"We take suo motu cognisance of this news item," the bench said.
"Let this order be placed along with the news report before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders," it said.
In February, Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh Alias Lalan Singh told Lok Sabha that about 22 lakh dog bites were reported in the country in 2024 between January and December. Answering a question in the House, the minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying said that there were 21,95,122 dog bite cases and 37 deaths last year, The Indian Express reported. Of the total dog bite cases reported during the period, over 5 lakh victims were children less than 15 years of age.
Besides, the country saw 5,04,728 cases and 11 deaths from other animal bites including monkey bite cases last year, the minister pointed out.
Singh cited, according to The Indian Express, data from states and Union Territories on the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (Integrated Health Information Platform) portal under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.