In cities across the country, the feral animals are both loved and feared. The judges are forging into intensely emotional territory by going after the ones in the capital.

On August 11, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan observed that instances of dog bites had given rise to an 'extremely grim' situation and ordered the permanent relocation of all strays in Delhi-NCR 'at the earliest'.

India’s top court has ordered authorities in New Delhi to start removing all stray dogs from its streets and to sterilize and relocate them to shelters permanently.