India, July 28 -- The Supreme Court on Monday initiated proceedings on its own motion (suo motu) over the growing menace of stray dog attacks and the resulting fatalities, flagging the situation as "alarming and disturbing".

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan took suo motu cognisance of the issue after a media report in the Times of India highlighted the tragic death of a six-year-old girl in Delhi due to rabies following a dog bite.

"This is a highly disturbing news report titled "City hounded by strays and kids pay price". It contains extremely troubling details. There are reports of hundreds of dog bite incidents from both cities and peripheral areas, many of which have led to rabies infections. Ultimately, it is infant...