Ban on elephant joy rides

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre, Animal Welfare Board and Rajasthan on a petition seeking a ban on elephants being used for ceremonial parades and joy rides in Rajasthan to promote tourism.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant issued a notice returnable in eight weeks on the petition, which highlighted the cruelty being meted out to the elephants during such parades and joy rides. The bench sought response after hearing senior counsel Shyam Divan and solicitor-general Ranjit Kumar.

The court had already issued a notice to all the states on the main petition seeking protection and rehabilitation of over 3,000 captive elephants. The bench also warned Kerala that elephants should not be subjected to cruelty during temple festivals.

The court had sought reply on the various aspects, viz the estimated number of captive elephants within the state; a break up classifying these captive elephants into categories — forest department, zoos, circus, private individuals, and temples/religious institutions. A description of the place where each of the captive elephant is kept or housed together with photographs. Whether there are any rescue and rehabilitation facilities within the state that can accommodate rescued captive elephants and the number of elephants that may be accommodated, and treated if necessary, at these rescue centers. Particulars of ownership certificates issued by the chief wildlife warden in each state with respect to captive elephants since 2003.

They said “Several reports show that elephants which are held in captivity are treated cruelly, and are suffering from severe health problems due to lack of proper welfare and upkeep measures.”

The poor treatment of elephants in captivity is in complete violation of the letter and spirit of the law, which recognises them to be requiring such high level of protection. The conditions in which many of these elephants are held are in direct violation of the relevant laws and it is urged that immediate steps need to be taken to ensure their protection and welfare.”

Appearing for Kerala, senior counsel Basant submitted that according to the statistics, there are 599 elephants in the temples and all of them have been registered. The temples are being maintained as per the rules. The bench posted the matter for further hearing in February 2016.