January 27th, 2025 – GS4

You are the Superintendent of Police (SP) of a district. There have been media reports about the recent incidents of dog bites taking place in your district. It has been reported that many people, including some small children below two-years of age, have become victims. 

One day a video of a man from your district, delivering a speech, surfaced on social media where he advocated for the killing of the street dogs as well as those who feed them. The same day, a boy of that locality took a small puppy to the third floor and threw it to the floor leading to its death. Also some unidentified persons in that locality assaulted some dog feeders and even molested a woman feeder.

All this led to a strong public debate on social media. A section of society was in favour of killing the stray dogs, being a threat to human safety as well as human life. They also proposed catching and confining them to specific shelter areas to reduce their number to sustainable levels. 

The other section advocated to leave the dogs to themselves as they bite only when they consider themselves in threat. They proposed that dogs also have rights. They do not have a logical brain to distinguish right from wrong and hence sometimes bite people.

Amidst this whole debate, the best solution proposed was sterilization of these dogs. This made the public of your area to demand for sterilization of dogs. 

1. Discuss the ethical issues involved in the case.

2. Evaluate the options available to you in the given scenario.

3. Which of the above will be most appropriate for you to take and why?