SC directs for proper upkeep of captive elephants

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that elephants must be treated and respected as manifestation of divinity and directed for their proper upkeep and health checkups when in captivity across the country. 
Hearing a PIL filed by an NGO, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said the court will not delve into religious rights or the faith behind the use of captive elephants in temples. 

The bench said it was only concerned with the proper upkeep of the animal and best practices must be adopted for captive elephants by private individuals, temples, forest departments, zoos and rehabilitation centres. “We are not going into whether a temple can possess an elephant. We are not going into any personal rights or religious rights. What we need to do is harmoniously deal with religious rights and the other laws operating in the field,” it said, adding that the respect to divinity must be extended to elephants also.

The bench directed the Centre to issue mandatory guidelines, as required, and take up the matter with the concerned states to introduce an effective and transparent mechanism on the establishment of elephant clinics with specialised facilities, where it shall be compulsorily prescribed for all owners of captive elephants to take the animals for periodic check-ups.  

It said a proper medical record of each captive elephant shall be duly maintained and the monitoring committee shall ensure that treatment, wherever required, is provided regularly.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, placed on record a February 25 office memorandum on the proceedings of the Captive Elephants Healthcare and Welfare Committee (CEHWC), which pointed out that the number of captive elephants in the country has increased to 2,725.