'She committed contempt but...': Supreme Court on Maneka Gandhi's criticism of stray dogs case order

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took on former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi for her criticism of the top court's order in the stray dogs case. The court said that though the remarks made by the former Union Minister qualified as "contempt", they decided not to go ahead with the charges "due to its magnanimity."

The bench also asked Maneka Gandhi what "budgetary allocation" she had helped in arranging for solving the stray dogs problem. 

In November 2025, the top court took note of the rise in dog bite incidents in places, including educational centres, hospitals, bus stands, and railway stations. The Supreme Court directed the authorities to move aggressive dogs to designated shelters. 

The apex court had also directed authorities, including the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), to ensure the removal of stray animals and cattle from highways and expressways. 

Reacting to this, Maneka Gandhi said in January that the Supreme Court judges did a "disservice" to the nation. 

"Supreme Court has created an atmosphere of hate across India... What the judges have done is wrong by simply dividing India into people who hate one or one love species. Through this, they have done a disservice to India. The Animal Welfare Act is a very good act. They haven't removed the act. They have simply said that you can act against the act. This is not correct," Gandhi told reporters.

In November, she described the Supreme Court directive on lodging stray animals in shelter homes as "impractical", saying compassion should guide India's approach towards animals. 

"The Supreme Court says remove the dog, remove the cat, remove the monkey, put it in a shelter, sterilise it, but no one can actually do this...it is impractical," Gandhi said while speaking at an event. She also questioned civic bodies over their lack of coordination. 

Last week, the Supreme Court flagged the lack of implementation of norms on stray animals for the past 5 years. It stated that it will ask states to pay a "heavy compensation" for dog-bite incidents and hold those who feed the dogs accountable. 

"For every dog bite, death or injury caused to children or elderly, we are going to ask the state governments to pay heavy compensation, as they did not do anything on implementation of norms in the past five years," Justice Vikram Nath said.