Ritika Sajdeh, the wife of Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma, has openly challenged the Supreme Court’s recent mandate to capture and move all stray dogs in the Delhi-NCR area to shelters. Ritika took to social media to describe the decision as the removal of an animal community and called for long-term remedies such as sterilisation, immunisation, and adoption initiatives.
The Supreme Court bench, which included Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, recently directed civic bodies to eradicate all stray dogs from Delhi-NCR without compromise. Once apprehended, the dogs are not to be let back onto the streets. The order also requires the establishment of suitable shelters, sterilising and immunisation facilities, a helpline for dog-bite complaints (with a four-hour response time), and CCTV monitoring to guarantee compliance with the directive.
The decision, which cited public safety concerns, sparked a nationwide controversy, with animal lovers, activists, and public figures all expressing strong opinions. Ritika, who has a dog, took to Instagram to discuss the role that stray dogs play in Indian cities.
“They call it a menace. We call it a heartbeat. Today, the Supreme Court says – take every stray dog off the streets of Delhi-NCR and lock them away.No sunlight. No freedom. No familiar faces they greet every morning. But these aren’t just stray dogs. They are the ones who wait outside your tea stall for a biscuit. They are the silent night guards for shopkeepers. They are the tails wagging when children return from school. They are the warmth in a cold, uncaring city,” – read Ritika Sajdeh’s post.
Today it’s the dogs. Tomorrow, who will it be?: Ritika Sajdeh
She criticised the decision to confine all strays to shelters, believing that it robs them of sunlight, freedom, and the familiar faces they have known for years. While accepting the concerns of dog bites and public safety, she emphasised that removal was not a solution. Instead, she asked for practical measures, like large-scale sterilisation programs to control population growth, regular vaccination drives to ensure public safety, community feeding zones to promote coexistence, and adoption campaigns to find homes for abandoned animals.
“Yes, there are problems – bites, safety concerns – but caging an entire community of animals is not a solution, it’s an erasure.The real fix? Large-scale sterilisation programs, regular vaccination drives, community feeding zones, and adoption campaigns. Not punishment. Not imprisonment. A society that can’t protect its voiceless is a society losing its soul. Today it’s the dogs. Tomorrow… who will it be? Raise your voice. Because they don’t have one. Please share this,” she added.
India
