Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has strongly reacted to the Supreme Court's recent order directing the Delhi administration to move stray dogs to shelters in the wake of rising dog bite incidents, rabies cases and related fatalities.
While several Bollywood celebrities expressed disappointment over the court's ruling, Varma issued a statement defending the decision and hit out at animal lovers who opposed it.
The director, known for films like Satya Shiva and Company, criticised what he called the "hypocrisy" of dog lovers. In his latest statement, he wrote, "Hey, all you dumb dog lovers, are you so blind, deaf and brain-dead that you can't see children being bitten, mauled and killed on CCTV videos all over the place? Can't you f***ing read the official reports on exploding rabies cases?"
He further argued that immediate dangers needed to be prioritised. "It is common sense that in any emergency-fire, flood, riot, etc, you first deal with the immediate dangers before holding debates on root causes and long-term solutions. But here, when the stray dogs' teeth are on the throats of children, the dog lovers want to hold TED talks on kindness and compassion," he said.
Calling the Supreme Court order "a blunt acknowledgement that the stray dog menace has gone too far," he said human lives must be saved first. He also dismissed ideas of large-scale vaccination and sterilisation of dogs. "Vaccinating some 8 crore dogs sounds great in a drawing room setting. In reality, try chasing down one street dog with a needle and multiply that by crores. It's not a plan, it's a bad script," he said.
Varma also questioned adoption practices and community feeding. "The dog lovers who cry hoarse about compassion are the same people buying foreign breeds to keep them in luxury houses... Just try to tell the dog lovers to take stray dogs in exchange for their pedigree breeds," he said.
On feeding, he stated, "When the dog lovers feed strays in one spot, they will gather in packs and become highly territorial and start attacking passersby-children, cyclists, delivery boys, even old people because they then will see humans as 'intruders' near their feeding zone."
He described shelters as "worse than concentration camps" and claimed they would become "biological horror factories." According to him, "In the open streets, diseases disperse. In a shelter, they will fester... One infected dog in a shelter can wipe out hundreds." He also questioned the financial feasibility of maintaining such shelters, saying, "For feeding 8 crore dogs in India, even if you spend just ₹20 a day per dog, that's ₹1600 crores per day. Who pays? Dog lovers on Twitter? Or taxpayers who are already overburdened?"
Varma further pointed to international examples, citing China's mass culling of stray dogs during rabies outbreaks and America's practice of euthanising unclaimed dogs. He stressed that India needed a "ruthless and practical combo" of immediate and long-term measures. His suggested plan included:
- Immediate removal of stray dogs around schools, markets, residential streets and slums.
- Creation of dog squads to track and cull aggressive or diseased dogs.
- Large-scale sterilisation and vaccination drives were conducted like a "war operation."
- Regulation of feeding with permission and under supervision.
- Making random roadside feeding illegal.
- Encouraging adoption through incentives.
- Culling the most dangerous strays immediately while sterilising and vaccinating others, zone by zone.
"The 'stray dog menace' is one of those problems where emotions, public safety, law, and animal rights all collide. Solutions have to balance compassion with practicality," he said, adding that his suggestions were based on "common sense observations."
The Supreme Court Order
On August 11, the Supreme Court directed authorities in Delhi-NCR to relocate stray dogs from public spaces to shelters. The order came after increasing incidents of dog attacks and rising rabies deaths were reported in the region.
The bench directed civic bodies in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad to create 5,000-capacity shelters equipped with sterilisation and vaccination facilities within six to eight weeks.
The court also instructed that CCTV monitoring be implemented in these shelters and a dedicated helpline be launched for reporting dog bite cases.
How Has Bollywood Reacted?
While Ram Gopal Varma welcomed the order, several Bollywood celebrities spoke against it. Actor John Abraham, in a letter to Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, wrote, "It has been widely reported that a recent judgment by the Division Bench comprising Hon'ble Justice JB Pardiwala and Hon'ble Justice R. Mahadevan has directed the removal of all stray dogs in Delhi from public spaces to shelters or far-off areas. I hope you will agree that these are not 'strays' but community dogs-respected and loved by many, and very much Delhiites in their own right, having lived in the region as neighbours to humans for generations."
Actors Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan also shared their views in a joint note, stating, "They call it a menace. We call it a heartbeat. Today, the Supreme Court says -- take every stray dog off the streets of Delhi-NCR and lock them away. No sunlight. No freedom. No familiar faces greet every morning."
Actor Raveena Tandon too had earlier expressed support for animal rights and raised concerns over the treatment of stray dogs.
