No move to turn tusker Chinnathambi into kumki, assures government

A division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad took up urgent hearing of the plea moved by People for Cattle of India (PFCI) citing a report quoting the Forest Minister C Sreenivasan that since Chinnathambi refuses to leave human habitation it would be turned into a kumki.

However, Advocate General Vijay Narayan appearing for the state submitted that there was no proposal at present to turn Chinnathambi into a kumki and that the Forest Department has embarked on taking necessary steps to guide it back to the forest.

But the bench while ordering notice to the state on the issue and posting the plea for further hearing to February 11 observed that the views of experts also ought to be obtained on this aspect.

The bench led by Justice Manikumar also cited the cruel way in which such elephants were moved using earth movers to lift them on to a lorry to aid their transport. He also observed that in one such instance, the earth mover inflicted a grievous injury on the elephant resulting in its death.

PFCI in its plea had submitted that Chinnathambi was translocated on January 26, 2019 but had returned to the Udumalai area forest range. Though no reports of loss of human life have been reported and the animal had not attacked any human beings, reports are out that the villagers are attempting to chase the elephant away with crackers and sticks and other violent methods.

The plea on noting that the act of forest department is in direct contravention of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, said, the act of capturing and taming a wild elephant is highest amount of cruelty and there is no provision in law that envisages taming a wild elephant through such brutal and barbaric measures.