India, Jan. 13 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it may impose "heavy compensation" on states for every dog bite and every death caused by stray dogs, while also holding dog feeders accountable for attacks that result in serious or "lifelong" consequences. Questioning why stray dogs should be allowed to roam freely in all areas, the court remarked that those feeding them should instead take responsibility by keeping the animals within their homes or premises.

A bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and NV Anjaria also reproached states and Union territories (UTs) for failing to implement existing statutory rules, observing that decades of inaction had caused the stray dog problem to multiply "a thousand times, a zillion t...