Kerala High Court orders panchayat to compensate stray dog attack victim

The Kerala High Court has held the Eruvessy grama panchayat responsible for paying compensation of ₹10,000 to a person who sustained injuries in a stray dog attack in 2007, as the local body failed to perform its statutory duties.

The Division Bench of Justice Sathish Ninan and Justice P. Krishna Kumar ruled that the panchayat failed to capture and sterilize dogs legally, thus failing in its duty to protect its citizens.

The court held that there was no evidence to establish that the panchayat had discharged any of the essential duties cast upon it under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the Birth Control Rules. “The dog bite incident which gave rise to the present claim is a direct and reasonably foreseeable consequence of the panchayat’s failure to discharge its statutory obligations,” it held.