The Madras High Court on Wednesday called for a report from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) on the treatment being meted out to elephants in captivity in temples and under the control of other State entities.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy wanted to know the steps being taken by the government to ensure that captive elephants were provided adequate food, water and other facilities.
The interim orders were passed on a public interest litigation petition filed by Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam. The petitioner complained about the ill-treatment meted out to elephants in temples by tying them up and not allowing them to move freely.
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The litigant also said that some temple elephants did not have well-trained mahouts and ordinary helpers, without any training, were being passed off as mahouts. He said such helpers only feed the animals, without really caring for them.
Taking serious note of the complaint, the judges ordered that the PCCF’s report should dwell on such aspects of the matter.