Mumbai, Jul 16 (PTI) An elephant’s right to quality life must take precedence over humans’ right to use it for religious purposes, the Bombay High Court said on Wednesday while upholding an order to transfer an elephant to a Jamnagar-based animal welfare facility.
A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale noted in the order that the mental and physical health of the elephant — Mahadevi alias Madhuri — suffered when she was with a Kolhapur-based trust.
In contrast, the Radhe Krishna Elephant Welfare Trust at Jamnagar, Gujarat, appears to be a godsend for the elephant, the HC said, adding that it put survival of the elephant and its right to quality life above the rights of men to use it for religious rites.
The court dismissed a petition filed by Swasthishri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Sanstha against December 2024 and June 2025 orders passed by a high-powered committee to transfer the elephant to the Radhe Krishna Elephant Welfare Trust.
It ordered for the elephant to be transferred to the Jamnagar trust within two weeks.
The original transfer was ordered following a complaint lodged by People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA) India about the animal’s condition.
The Kolhapur trust contended that it owned the elephant since 1992, and its presence at religious programs was a part of a religious tradition.
But the high court cited a June 2024 report about the elephant’s health, diet and nutrition, social environment, hygiene and cleanliness of shelter, veterinary care and work schedule, and said they “appear to be absolutely dismal”.
As per the report, the elephant suffered from “decubital ulcerated wounds” on its hip joints and a few other places on the body.
The petitioner may have had no deliberate intent to cause injury, but in this “conflict between the rights of an elephant and the rights of the trust to use the elephant in the discharge of its religious activities, priority must be given to the elephant’s welfare,” the court said.
“We cannot but reminisce the words of Lawrence Anthony in his book ‘The Elephant Whisperer’…`But perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those that we put up ourselves, and that until we allow not only elephants, but all living creatures their place in the sun, we can never be whole ourselves,'” the HC said. PTI SP KRK
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