The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the right to live with dignity encompasses the right to live freely without threat from dogs as it dismissed all applications and petitions seeking recall of its earlier directions on relocation and sterilisation of strays.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria, which dismissed pleas challenging validity of the standard operating procedures issued by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to deal with stray animals, issued a slew of directions to States, Union Territories and other statutory bodies to augment infrastructure to deal with stray dogs.