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.

Human-street dog interactions in India are predominantly uneventful with 82 per cent of observed encounters involving approachable or neutral behaviour, according to a research on street dogs and public health by the University of Edinburgh.

India's top court ordered authorities in the capital Delhi and its suburbs on Monday to relocate all stray dogs to shelters within eight weeks, according to the Live Law website, after media reports of a rise in cases of rabies,