Supreme Court relief for festive elephants

New Delhi: Taking a serious view of elephants used in temple festivals and being subjected to cruelty, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed all the organisers, owners of the elephants and the festival coordination committee to see that any elephant that is engaged in the performance of any festival activities or any activity relating to any festivity is not treated or meted with cruelty.

A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant in an interim order warned that if it was established before this Court that an elephant had been meted with cruelty, the organisers, the committee members should be impleaded in this case and be proceeded for contempt.

The Bench passed this order on an application in a pending writ petition filed by Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre seeking a ban on use of elephants in temple festivals and subjected to cruelty. The petitioner submitted that there was a statutory prohibition for engaging elephants for performance in any festival or any activity relating to any festivity.

Petitioner Gauri Maulekhai of Animal Welfare Board  said all over Kerala during the festival season  elephants are used to perform various activities and are exhibited throughout the day and night without adequate food and water.