In cities across the country, the feral animals are both loved and feared. The judges are forging into intensely emotional territory by going after the ones in the capital.

Senior lawyers INDIA TODAY spoke to opined that with the previous bench, of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan, not hearing the other side, the principle of natural justice had not been served

India's top court has ordered authorities to remove all stray dogs from the streets and place them in permanent shelters, sparking an uproar from animal-rights groups over the feasibility of a decision some say was made in anger.