The Calcutta High Court recently ordered the West Bengal government to ensure that no elephant is transported out of the State illegally [Cape Foundationa & Anr v State of West Bengal and Anr]. .A Division Bench of Justices Ravi Kishan Kapur and Arindam Mukherjee also directed the State to retrieve three elephants that had been transported to Bihar. “The respondent no.2, being the Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), who is also the Chief Wildlife Warden, is directed to take all necessary and expeditious steps by interacting with the Appropriate Authorities of the State of Bihar, State of West Bengal and any other third party in order to expeditiously bring the above three elephants back to the State of West Bengal. The State of West Bengal is also directed to take necessary and effective measures at their 14 borders to ensure that no such illegal or unlawful transportation of elephants takes place to outside the State of West Bengal,” the Court said. .The Bench passed the order while dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Cape Foundation in 2018, alleging that as many as two dozen elephants had been transported out of West Bengal to other States.The PIL drew particular attention to the condition of the three elephants moved to Bihar. .After considering the case, the Court noted that the elephants were being kept in a gruesome condition at an ashram in Bihar and the use of spiked shackles and sharp spears have inflicted several injuries on them. “Similarly, the use of heavy chains and spiked bracelets to control them and tying three of their legs down for long hours on concrete floor is inter-alia in violation of the section 11(1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and unacceptable. Any commercial exploitation of the three elephants is also cannot be ruled out and would be contrary to the Guidelines dated 8 January 2008,” the Court noted. Therefore, it allowed the PIL and ordered the elephants to be brought back. .Advocates Dhruba Ghosh, Biswanath Chatterjee, Ajeya Chowdhury and Sobhan Kumar Pathak appeared for the petitioners. The Bihar ashram and its mahant was represented through advocates Partha Sarathi Deb Barman, Anindya Sundar Das, Anup Dasgupta, Ratul Deb Banerjee, Sourojit Mukherjee, Syed Ali Afzal and Suman Halder.Advocate Noelle Banerjee appeared for the State of West Bengal. .[Read Judgment]
