Rights panel issues notice to Thiruvananthapuram corporation on dog menace

Thiruvananthapuram: The State Human Rights Commission has asked the corporation secretary and higher education secretary to report within one month the steps taken to control the dog menace in the Government Women's College here. Commission acting chairman P. Mohanadas issued the directive on the basis of a complaint submitted by third-year degree students and AISF activists, S. Thripthiraj, N.S. Divya and M.J. Gopika. They alleged that the college was a haven for dogs and that packs of dogs entered the classes even during academic hours.

They dirty the classrooms when there are no classes and even give birth to puppies there. The students have to pick them up and throw them out. The Supreme Court in 2015 had directed all local bodies and panchayats to abstain from culling stray dogs. The court had observed that “subterfuge or innovative methods” to circumvent the order of the court will be not be tolerated. According to a report submitted in the Supreme Court recently, over one lakh people in Kerala had been bitten by dogs in 2015-16.