'These aren't just stray dogs' - Rohit Sharma's wife Ritika Sajdeh reacts to Supreme Court's order

Wife of Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma, Ritika Sajdeh, has openly criticised the Supreme Court’s recent directive to capture and relocate all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR to shelters. Taking to her social media account, Ritika described the decision as an act of removing a community of animals, and asked for searching long-term solutions such as sterilisation, vaccination, and adoption drives.

The Supreme Court’s bench, comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, recently instructed civic bodies to clear all localities in Delhi-NCR of stray dogs without compromise. Once captured, the dogs are not to be released back onto the streets. The order also mandates the creation of adequate shelters, sterilisation and immunisation facilities, a helpline for dog-bite complaints (with a four-hour response window), and CCTV monitoring to ensure compliance with the directive.

The decision, citing public safety concerns, has triggered nationwide debate, with animal lovers, activists, and public figures voicing strong reactions. Ritika, who herself has a dog, took to her Instagram to speak about the role stray dogs play in the daily life of 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

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.