The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court’s order directing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to register first information reports against persons who continue to feed pigeons despite a directive against it, Live Law reported.
A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi observed that the Supreme Court hearing the matter parallelly will be improper. The petitioner can move the High Court seeking modification of the order, the bench said.
On July 30, the High Court, acting on petitions by animal welfare activists, had said that feeding pigeons at kabootarkhanas, or pigeon-feeding spots, was becoming a public health hazard affecting children and the elderly.
A High Court bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Arif Doctor had allowed the municipal corporation to file cases under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to public nuisance, negligent acts likely to spread infectious diseases and malignant acts likely to spread life-threatening diseases.
The court had also told the civic body to install security cameras at places where feeding of pigeons was still taking place.
The High Court order had triggered protests in the city.
On Wednesday, hundreds of persons clashed with the police at the Dadar kabootarkhana, tearing down tarpaulin sheets that the authorities had put up to prevent the feeding of pigeons.
Two days earlier, more than 1,000 members of the Jain community had gathered to protest after the Dadar feeding spot was closed, marking the end of a long-standing tradition.
On July 3, the Maharashtra government had told the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to begin the process of shutting down pigeon feeding points in the city.
Between July 13 and August 3, Mumbai’s civic body fined 142 persons for illegally feeding pigeons. The municipal corporation collected Rs 68,700 in penalties from those fined.
The highest number of fines – 61, or nearly 43% of the total – were issued at the Dadar kabootarkhana.
Also read:
- Why Mumbai ban on pigeon feeding has pitted neighbours against each other
- Why India needs to rethink its love for pigeons
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