Madras HC Orders Rescue Of Madurai Elephant Paraded In Weddings, Used For Begging

For years humans have beaten, shocked, and whipped Elephants until they learn to perform meaningless tricks only to please tourists.?

And this comes at the cost of young ones being ripped from their mothers after birth, Elephants suffering from?depression, painful arthritis, cracked toenails, and skin condition all caused by confinement and daily abuse.?

More recently, the Madras High Court has down heavy on the possession of a female elephant that was allegedly being used for begging by the wife of a mahout in Madurai.

The court, according to reports, has directed the principal chief conservator of forests and the chief wildlife warden to immediately take action and rescue the animal that's suffering from unspeakable torture.?

The division bench, comprising Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad, ordered the official to either keep the 34-year-old elephant in a camp or transport it to a zoo, in accordance with the law.

The court was hearing the petition of S Muralidharan, an animal lover, who had alleged that Indira, a woman from Madurai was subjecting Malachi to cruelty.

The petitioner submitted that the elephant, 'Malachi', was originally owned by one Masan, a resident of Rangat, North and Middle Andaman district in the Andamans.

Masan had handed over the elephant to Indira on September 17, 2007, to be offered as a gift to the famous Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai.

The counter affidavit filed by the Chief Wildlife Warden also lists incidents when the caretakers of the elephant were fined as much as Rs 25,000 for a number of violations.?

Twitter

The woman had allegedly never given the elephant as a gift to the temple in Madurai and instead used the poor animal to her benefit: for begging and marriage function parades.

According to the petition, Indira had violated Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011. Indira denied using the elephant for begging and claimed that locals willingly offered money to the elephant when she ventured on the streets with it.?

Muralidharan said the elephant was made to walk on roads and both her front and back legs were tied using heavy chains reports, Apherald.?

He also alleged that the mahout, while riding the elephant some time back had come in contact with an overhead electrical wire, was thrown off and had died. Malachi, the elephant, too suffered burn injuries, but ignored, claims reports.?

The petitioner said he moved the court as there was no response to his representations to the principal chief conservator of forests.