Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma questions dog-lovers over Supreme Court order, asks if “dead children don’t count”

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has strongly criticized what he calls the “selective sympathy” of people protesting against the Supreme Court’s order to shift stray dogs in Delhi-NCR to shelters within eight weeks.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Varma questioned where activists were when children were attacked by street dogs. “Where was your compassion then? Or is compassion reserved only for those with wagging tails while dead children don’t count?” he wrote.

Varma urged “dog lovers” to limit their affection to pets inside their homes. “Love your imported Labradors, your pedigreed Huskies, your high-breed pets... in your own homes, in your luxury bungalows, in your manicured lawns,” he noted, calling the stray dog menace a direct threat to the poor. “It prowls in the streets and slums,” he added.

He further highlighted a class divide. “Rich people pet high breeds. Poor people get mauled and killed by strays,” he said.

Varma encouraged animal rights activists to act on their advocacy by adopting stray dogs. “If you truly love dogs, then adopt them, feed them, and protect them in your secure homes. Or force the government to come up with solutions,” he stated.

He concluded with a moral appeal: “Compassion without balance is injustice,” and warned, “A society that values the life of a stray dog over the life of a child has already lost its humanity.”