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.

Supreme Court's directions were given in a case the top court took up suo motu on July 28 after what it said was a “very disturbing and alarming” newspaper report about the death of a six-year-old girl due to rabies.

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.