Gauhati High Court Refuses To Halt Transfer Of 5 Captive Elephants To Tamil Nadu Temples, Finds No 'Prima-Facie' Possibility Of Ill-Treatment
The Gauhati High Court refused to halt the transfer of five captive elephants belonging to private persons to Tamil Nadu for religious purpose, "prima-facie" observing that it finds no reason as of now to pass any restraint order unless it is shown that necessary clearances have not been obtained.
The court thus asked Assam Government to file a detailed affidavit on an application apprehending ill-treatment of the transported elephants in Tamil Nadu.
The court was hearing an application filed in a pending writ petition questioning validity of the proviso to Section 40(2A) and 40(2B) of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 as being arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, in as much as it creates an exceptional regime governing the ownership, control, custody and possession of the captive elephants.
The plea contended that 5 elephants belonging to private persons are shortly to be transported to the temples situated in the State of Tamil Nadu.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury observed that there is no law circumscribing the transfer of elephants provided there are clearances from the respective bodies under the statute.
It said that the only apprehension raised on behalf of the applicant is that there had been, in the past, a known case of overstay of an elephant transferred to Tamil Nadu and, therefore, there could be a possibility of ill-treatment to the transported elephants to the temples of Tamil Nadu.
"We are afraid, such apprehension does not appear to be genuine for the reason that because of the overstay of that very elephant, namely, “Joymala”, the State of Assam has filed a writ petition before this Court seeking its safe return to the State of Assam.
Prima facie, we find no reason, as on date, to pass any restraint order, unless it is clearly shown that necessary clearances have not been obtained. However, keeping in mind the importance of maintaining the health of the elephants, who are captives with private persons from being put to unscrupulous/unauthorized use, we keep this application pending with a direction to the learned Additional Advocate General, Assam to respond to this application by the next date".
The Additional Advocate General of Assam made a statement that all clearances for transfer of the 5(five) elephants to the temples of Tamil Nadu have been given and all possible care shall be taken for safe transportation of those elephants for religious purposes.
The court noted that the applicant has also approached the High Powered Committee for the needful, which is pending consideration. The Court was informed that the State has also filed the response affidavit before the High Powered Committee.
The court thus listed the pending writ petition along with the application on October 15.
Case title: ROHIT CHOUDHURY v/s UNION OF INDIA AND ORS
I.A.(Civil)/3325/2026 in WP(C) No.5899/2023