Guwahati: A Goa-based animal rights lawyer has written to the Centre and Assam forest department opposing the proposal of transferring two young female elephants to a temple in Tamil Nadu from upper Assam’s Tinsukia.
Animal rights lawyer Alok Hisarwala Gupta in a letter to Assam PCCF (Wildlife) and chief wildlife warden MK Yadav citing media reports said that the Executive Officer of the Annamalaiyar temple has submitted an application to the Ministry of Environment and Forest and the Assam Forest Department, seeking permission a allow a temple devotee who is a businessman to acquire, transfer and donate two young female elephants from Tinsukia, to the temple in Tiruvannamalai.
Gupta in his letter, the copies of which have also been sent to the Director and Deputy Director of Project Elephant, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and Chief Wildlife Warden, Tamil Nadu Forest Department, also quoted news reports that representatives of the Annamalaiyar temple have visited Assam, inspected over 15 elephants and selected two young, female juveniles to be bought and transferred.
He said that several videos of the said inspection have been shared by the temple devotees, one of which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mopyZRbcLv8
“The video is extremely disturbing as it shows a young elephant with a deep bloody gash on her forehead which appears to be poorly masked by sindoor. The calf has been trained to raise her trunk as a blessing gesture, making her ready for sale and use in the temple,” Gupta said.
He mentioned the entire exercise is in direct breach of the prohibition of sale and transfer of elephants under section 43 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
It is also in contravention of the Supreme Court order dated 04/05/2016 in WP 743/2014, whereby the Court has directed that no elephant should be transferred from one state to another, under the guise of trade, Gupta pointed out.
“Therefore, any application to transfer an elephant must be filed before the Supreme Court of India, and not directly to any forest department. This case is identical to a recent IA No. 32654 of 2019, filed by one Md. Rehan Uddin, a private owner of Elephant Fulmala, in Assam, who has sought the Supreme Court’s permission to transfer Fulmala to a temple in Kanyakumari,” said the animal rights lawyer.
Gupta said that Project Elephant has opposed this application by their Affidavit in Reply dated 24.08.2020, based both on the inbuilt prohibitions in law, but also relying particularly on the communication of the Tamil Nadu forest department dated 17.07.2020.
He said the Tamil Nadu forest department, in its letter, has made reference to the 2019 report of (late) Scientist Ajay Desai, which records, in reference to one temple elephant Gomathy, that the plight of highly social and sentient elephants in solitary confinement in temples is akin to incarceration.
“While I respect the sentiments of the temple devotees, it is important for all of us to collectively acknowledge that temples are no place for elephants, who only belong in the wild. Devotees must be made to understand the pain and suffering that goes into separating a young, social elephant, from her natural habitat and taken to the foreign, concrete surroundings of the temple,” Gupta said.
In addition, if this transfer were still carried out, it would not only be illegal under law, but also in contempt of both the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Madras, he mentioned.
The lawyer said that many residents across Assam and Tamil Nadu are already outraged, after the horrific violent incident of beating and abuse of elephant Joyamala from March 20213 , that has revealed that several elephants from the wild in Assam are currently illegally in Tamil Nadu and across South India, performing different temple and ritual duties.
“A proposal to return a young elephant Deivanai who has a history of violently attacking her mahouts, and has also killed one mahout, back to the custody of the Assam Forest Department has been pending for more than two years.
“Instead of bringing any further elephants from the wilds of Assam to the temples inTamil Nadu, there must be a course correction to return elephants already illegally kept in Tamil Nadu, back to elephant rehabilitation centres, preferably in Assam, their natural habitat,” Gupta stated.