New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre, Animal Welfare Board and nine states on a writ petition seeking protection and rehabilitation of over 3,000 captive elephants being used for temple festivals, rituals and other activities.
A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant issued notice returnable in eight weeks to Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
The Bench sought their reply on 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.
While seeking a direction for proper protection and rehabilitation of elephants, the petitioner sought a direction to conduct a census of all captive elephants in the country, preferably with the assistance of independent experts as the data of 2,000 is entirely outdated.
