Madras High Court Calls for Policy Measures to Prohibit Future Ownership of Elephants by Private Individuals and Temples

On Tuesday, the Madras High Court held that a uniform policy should be put in place to fully ban future ownership of elephants by individuals or temples and to put all elephants under the control of the Department of Forests.

Referring to a video that went viral a few days back, the court expressed concern over the mishandling and mistreatment of elephants.

"Any kind of mistreatment of elephants and other animals must be dealt with promptly and as mercilessly as such persons deal with the animals," the Court added, in its order.

The Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy further argued that except for restricted government-controlled exercises, such as horse-riding or camel-riding on the beach, abuse of animals for all purposes should be prevented.

Public interest litigation (PIL) petitions by activist Rangarajan Narasimhan about the alleged inhumane treatment of some elephants at the temple of Srirangam Ranganathaswamy were heard by the Court. He expressed concern about their being split from their mahouts, among other submissions, claiming that there was no need to sack the mahouts.

The Court went on to say that the case raised questions about whether elephants owned by private individuals and temples were exploited for joy rides or used to transport heavy material as 'beasts of burden.' 

it also noted that elephants should preferably be under the control of the forest department and that it should be forbidden for all temples and human agencies to have elephants. The Bench directed the state forest department to issue guidelines to protect elephants from abuse and mistreatment. The state has been requested to come up with a detailed policy framework and guidelines on this grey area within 8 weeks.