Aug 29, 2025
Aug 29, 2025
When the Heart Outshines the Hammer
What defines humanity — the ‘might of its laws’ or the ‘mercy of its heart’?
Two stories, unfolding in the same nation, could not be more different. In a small ward in Tripunithura, Kerala, a community immortalized a stray dog named Eldho with a lifelike statue, celebrating his loyalty, protection, and place in their lives. In New Delhi, the Supreme Court has ordered the rounding up and permanent detention of street dogs in shelters — stripping them of their freedom, their territory, and, in many cases, their lives.
A Tale of Two Mindsets
Eldho was not “managed” or “relocated.” He was embraced. He roamed free but belonged everywhere. He became a guardian to schoolchildren, a companion to the elderly, a guest at weddings and festivals. His presence enhanced public safety in ways security cameras cannot — deterring theft, standing watch during late-night walks, and alerting residents to strangers.
Contrast this with the capital’s looming shelters: cramped, costly, and cruel. Relocation is not just impractical — it is ecologically disruptive and legally dubious. Dogs are territorial; remove them, and either they die in confinement or new strays move in, perpetuating the cycle. The government spends crores on land, infrastructure, staff, and feed — funds that could instead improve public sanitation, veterinary care, and sterilization drives.
The Law’s Forgotten Spirit
Article 51A(g) of our Constitution calls upon every citizen to show compassion to all living creatures. The Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules and past judgments — Animal Welfare Board of India v. A. Nagaraja (2014), People for Elimination of Stray Troubles (2016) — uphold that strays have the right to live where they are, post-sterilization. The new order tramples these principles.
By locking up dogs, the so-called upholders of the law risk violating it themselves. In effect, relocation without necessity is slow-motion killing.
Eldho (Kerala) Vs Supreme Court Order (Delhi) Model
| Criteria | Eldho Model (Kerala) |
SC Order Model (Delhi) |
| Core Approach | Coexistence: sterilize-vaccinate-return (SVR) + community care |
Permanent capture and sheltering of stray dogs away from original territory |
| Legal Alignment | Supports SVR model and territorial rights; backed by ABC Rules & AWBI guidelines | Contradicts ABC Rules & multiple SC/HC rulings protecting dogs’ right to territory |
| Public Safety Impact | Deters theft, supports women’s safety at night, early warning of intruders | Removes territorial deterrence, potentially increases petty crime & assaults |
| Ecological Impact | Maintains territorial balance; controls stray dog population humanely; reduces rodent menace | Destabilizes ecological balance, leading to territorial vacuum and possible influx of aggressive, unvaccinated dogs |
| Cost to Government | Minimal: community feeders & residents shoulder most expenses for food & monitoring | Massive: infrastructure for shelters, staffing, feeding, healthcare, security, transport |
| Role of Community | Central: community involvement ensures trust, food, and monitoring | Marginalized: public excluded from animal care, dogs isolated from familiar environment |
| ABC Rules Compliance | Compliant: capture-neuter-vaccinate-return to same location | Non-compliant: relocation violates mandated return to original territory |
| Article 51A(g) Compassion Duty | Affirmative: compassion expressed via humane treatment & inclusion | Negative: disregards constitutional duty to show compassion to living beings |
| Sustainability | High: low-cost, scalable, self-reinforcing through community participation | Low: financially and logistically unsustainable in the long run |
| Real-world Example | Eldho, Kozhivettumveli (Tripunithura, Kerala) – a loved community stray immortalized with a statue | Mass sheltering proposal in Delhi-NCR |
Lessons From Eldho
Eldho’s story shows there is another way. Community involvement, responsible feeding, sterilization, and vaccination work — and they cost a fraction of the shelter route. Every community dog feeder is saving the government thousands per animal annually in feeding costs alone.
When people and strays coexist, both flourish. Eldho was proof: healthy, loved, and a silent protector of his patch of earth.
The Choice Before Us
Will India follow Delhi’s path — caging its voiceless sentinels — or Kerala’s, where compassion became a monument? If humans cannot defend the rights of the most loyal species among us, what claim do we have to the word “humanity”? A god without divinity is no god at all — and a human without compassion is no human.
The Delhi order may be legal on paper, but Eldho’s statue will stand ‘taller in history.’
23-Aug-2025
More by : P. Mohan Chandran