PIL Filed In GHC Against Transportation of Elephants

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Gauhati High Court on Friday in order to stop the transportation of four elephants to the Jagannath Temple in Ahmedabad .

AGuwahati-based NGO, Avinava Prayash has filed the PIL under Article 226 of theConstitution of India challenging the action of Assam Forest Department totransport four elephants amidst the heat wave in North India.

The ForestDepartment of Assam has granted permission for transportation of four juvenileelephants including two females to Ahmedabad for participating at the RathYatra festival to be held there on July 4.

The petitionfiled by the NGO said that transporting the elephants in railway wagons in theprevailing heat-wave conditions in North India would subject the animals toextreme stress, pain and cruelty and they may not survive the long journey of3,106 kilometres.