The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to recall its directions issued last year that stray dogs picked by municipal authorities from public places must not be released back into the same area after they are vaccinated or sterilised, Live Law reported.As per the directions issued in November, the dogs picked up from public places must be placed in shelters.Dismissing a set of petitions seeking modifications to the directives, a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria said that the state cannot remain a “passive spectator” while citizens face the threat of dog attacks in public areas, The Indian Express reported.If officials fail to implement these directions, they will be liable for contempt action, the court said.The court said that the constitutional right to life includes the right to move freely in public without the fear of being attacked. “The Constitution does not envisage a society where children and elderly citizens are left to survive on the mercy of physical strength or chance,” the judges said, according to the newspaper.The court on Tuesday directed states and Union Territories to implement the Animal Welfare Board of India Rules and to set up at least one Animal Birth Control centre in each district, Live Law reported. States must ensure that anti-rabies vaccines and immunoglobulins are adequately available, the judges said.Further, the court also allowed the authorities to “take such measures as may be legally permissible, including euthanasia” in cases of rabid dogs or those who are demonstrably dangerous, according to the legal news website.The judges said that officials of local bodies are entitled to legal protection with respect to the performance of their duties, and that no first information reports should ordinarily be registered against them in such cases.The court remarked that the implementation of the Animal Birth Control rules with respect to stray dogs had been sporadic, underfunded and uneven.“Had the states and union territories acted with due diligence and foresight in implementing the mandate of the ABC Framework from its inception, including the timely and phased documentation of sterilisation capacity, sustained vaccination and the development of an adequate institutional infrastructure, the present situation would not have assumed such alarming proportions,” the court said, according to Live Law.In November, the Supreme Court directed that stray dogs picked up from public places such as hospitals, schools and railway stations must not be released in the same areas from which they were taken away. “Permitting the same would frustrate the very purpose of liberating such institutions from the presence of stray dogs,” the court had said.In July, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had taken suo motu cognisance of concerns about stray dogs in public places based on a media report. On August 11, it had directed authorities in the National Capital Territory of Delhi to immediately begin relocating street dogs and build shelters for 5,000 to 6,000 animals within six weeks.However, the case was shifted to a three-judge bench headed by Nath two days later. On August 22, the court stayed the directions given by the two-judge bench and said that stray dogs that are picked up should be released back into the same area after being sterilised, dewormed and immunised.The court, however, had said that dogs displaying aggressive behaviour, or those infected with rabies, should not be released.Edited by Sneha.Also read:What the outrage over stray dogs says about the moral compass of middle-class IndiansSheltering stray dogs is impractical when evidence shows India’s animal birth control rules work