Elephants Should Get Required Rest: Kerala High Court Directs State To Produce Plan For Deployment Of Elephants During Festive Season

The Kerala High Court has directed the Government to place on record a mechanism supported by a statutory scheme for the practical and convenient deployment of elephants during festive season. 

The Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice S.V. Bhatti and Justice Basant Balaji through the issuance of the aforementioned direction, has sought the calendar for each elephant to be used by the temple or organization to be provided therewith, so that the elephant gets the required rest and recuperation between one festivity and another.

The Bench issued the above direction in a plea filed by Society for Elephant Welfare, seeking the issuance of directions for mandatory provisions for the construction of temple tanks for being used by the captive elephants for bathing. 

It is the case of the petitioners that elephants prefer to bathe in streams, rivers or ponds where they can wallow in the water, but when they are captured and used for temple festivals, they are simply sprinkled by a hose in the temples. The petitioner submitted that while most temples in Kerala had perennial water source, and temple tanks are also considered sacred and used for religious rituals or ceremonies, the elephants are however, not permitted to use the same for taking baths. 

The petitioner averred that the State of Tamil Nadu has made the construction of tanks for the bathing of elephants mandatory, and that the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011, contains strict regulations for the care of elephants, including provisions for bathing and the training of mahouts and cavadies. On the other hand, the petitioner submitted that similar provisions have not been incorporated by the Government of Kerala in the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2003. 

"A designated elephant bathing area or a natural body of water is safe for the elephants and the environment. The respondents have got to duty to protect the captive elephants by -constructing to construct tanks so as to enable the elephants to take bathing is very much essential in the circumstances," the plea states. 

The petitioner averred that despite sending a detailed representation in this regard to the Chief Minister, no action had been seen to be taken by the Government. 

"Temples have sufficient funds to construct tanks for storing water and using the same for bathing for elephants. It is only due to lack of willingness on their part it is not constructed. The refusal to provide the basic facility of proper bathing facilities have adverse effect on the elephant. The running of amok of elephants in Kerala is more than the neighboring states. The health of the elephants gets deteriorated due to non-providing of proper bathing facility to them. The respondents who are bound to protect the health of the elephants are ignoring it deliberately," the plea further adds. 

The petitioner has thus sought an interim order directing the respondents to take immediate measures so as to restrain the use of captive elephants for festivals wherein there are no tanks for bathing or where bathing is done using hose and other methods, pending the disposal of the case. 

It is on issuing notice in the matter to the respondents, that the Court issued the aforementioned directions. 

The Court further clarified that it shall not delve upon the larger question on whether the continuous use of elephants for around seven months would amount to cruelty to the elephant in the present plea. 

The petitioner is represented by Advocates P.B. Sahasranaman, T.S. Harikumar, and Sanand Ramakrishnan in the case. Standing Counsel for the Travancore Devaswom Board G. Biju, Standing Counsel for Cochin Devaswom Board K.P. Sudheer, Standing Counsel for the Malabar Devaswom Board R. Lakshmi Narayan, Standing Counsel for the Guruvayoor Devaswom Board Vipindas, and the Government Pleader appear on behalf of the various respondents. 

Case Title: Society for Elephant Welfare v. State of Kerala & Ors. 

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