Plea in Madras HC to rescue gifted elephant

CHENNAI: Claiming that an elephant gifted to Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple by a resident of Andaman is in the illegal possession of the temple mahout’s wife, a PIL has been moved in the Madras high court seeking to hand over the custody of the animal to the principal chief conservator of Forests.

Admitting the plea, the first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose ordered notice to Indira, the wife of the mahout, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, and the principal chief conservator of forests returnable by two weeks.


According to petitioner S Muralidharan, Malachi, the elephant, belonged to Masan, a resident of Rangat, North and Middle Andaman District.

As Masan wanted to gift the animal to Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple, she handed over the elephant to Indira on September 17, 2007 with an instruction to hand over the possession of the animal to the temple.

Now, alleging that the elephant was not handed over to the temple as instructed by Masan, the petitioner claimed that Indira is using it for begging and at marriage functions among others.


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