The People for the Ethical Treatment to Animals (PETA) India on Tuesday slammed the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (TNHRCE) Department for its “public relations stunt” to show Joymala, the much-abused female elephant from Assam, was being pampered in a temple.
Joymala, renamed Jeymalyatha in the southern State, should have been seized by the Tamil Nadu Government after the first case of her torture had surfaced through a video, the animal rights group said.
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PETA India said the TNHRCE Department focussed on “misleading the public” instead of ensuring suitable action on repeated crimes against the elephant. The department released a 30-second video on Monday showing Jeymalyatha unchained with unarmed mahouts and in a pool of blood besides claiming that the videos on the elephant being tortured were fake, it said.
“This is despite the same agency having suspended the mahout involved in beating Jeymalyatha at a rejuvenation camp and the mahout and kavadi being booked for the crime which went viral in February 2021,” PETA India said.
This crime was also extensively documented by the TNHRCE in a disciplinary action report and a First Information Report was filed against the abusers under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
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Evidence showed Jeymalyatha was tortured in the sanctum sanctorum of the Krishnan Kovil temple at Srivilliputhur. The forest range concerned had registered offences under the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972, along with the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011, PETA India said.
“Rather than denying established facts, Jeymalyatha should have been seized by the Tamil Nadu Forest authorities immediately after the first beating video surfaced and certainly after the second video. We request the authorities to have a heart, and to give the lonely and bullied Jeymalyatha the care she needs at a true rescue centre where she can live unchained, and be in the company of her own kind,” PETA India director of advocacy projects Khushboo Gupta said.
Jeymalyatha was leased out by Assam in 2008 reportedly for six months but never returned.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma sent a four-member team to Chennai for inspecting the elephant’s condition and to bring her back. But Tamil Nadu Forest officials have reportedly prevented the team from visiting the animal.
