The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Centre and various State governments on measures taken to curb cruelty and abuse meted out to captive elephants by private owners, mahouts, temples, trusts for the sake of profit.
A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and P.C. Pant issued notice to the Centre and States, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, to respond on the petition in eight weeks.
“This requires serious consideration,” Justice Misra said.
The petition, filed by Bangalore-based Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre and other animal welfare organisations, has questioned the manner in which elephants are ill-treated during religious functions, processions and other events.
The petition said pachyderms are subject to untold cruelty despite laws over half a century old like Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 1960, which makes it an offence to beat, torture, over-load, chaining or tethering with a heavy or short chain.
It said little regard was paid to the Ministry of Environment and Forests' guidelines of 2008, which bans captive elephants from being made to walk for more than 30 km a day and not more than three hours at a stretch.
Long walks on roads The petition pointed out that in States like Tamil Nadu, temple festivals happen in the hottest months of the year and it was common for elephant keepers to make their elephants walk on the hot, tarred city roads during peak summer days. This was in sheer violation of the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011.
The petition drew the court's attention to how even 'treats' given to temple elephants by devotees add to their misery.
