Plea seeks SC's intervention to bring an end to 'horrifying cruelty to animals'

In a letter, advocate Nedumpara asked the top court to intervene

A plea has been made to the Chief Justice of India seeking the Supreme Court's intervention to bring an end to the "horrifying cruelty to animals" in view of a recent incident where a burning tyre was thrown on a wild tusker in a Nilgiris resort leading to his death.

In a letter, advocate Mathews J Nedumpara sought an enquiry into the tragic event of a wild tusker being burned to death this month as it entered a resort in the middle of a forest.

The video of the incident as reported on TV channels and other media would shock the conscience of any human being, he said.

Nedumpara said his letter should be treated as a petition, dispensing with all procedural formalities, to intervene in the matter.

The 40-year-old elephant has reportedly succumbed to injuries after being tranquilised. The Mudumalai forest department had already arrested two men for the incident.

The lawyer had earlier filed a writ petition questioning archaic punishment for cruelty to animals, which was disposed of by the top court in October, last, saying his "prayers were too wide and varied and it would be difficult to issue any direction."

On May 27, a pregnant elephant succumbed to injuries in Kerala after being fed with a pineapple filled with crackers.

Subsequently, the top court had issued notice to several states on a PIL by BJD MP Anubhav Mohanty and others for stopping the practice of indiscriminate killings of wild animals by feeding them with poison-laced foods and by bullets.

On October 14, 2020, the Supreme Court, in a judgement, said commercial activities such as running of private resorts and construction of new buildings with barbed and electric fences cannot be allowed within elephant corridors as those posed a serious threat of fragmentation and destruction of habitats. It had appointed a three-member inquiry committee headed by Justice K Venkatraman, former judge of the Madras High Court to consider objections raised by private persons and some resort owners, including Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty, against reports of Nilgiris' district collector, alleging variance in acreage of the elephant corridor.