‘Arikomban’ case: Kerala HC warns State of strict motion if tribal resettlement present in elephant habitat

By PTI

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday warned the state of strict motion if it discovered that the world within the Idukki district the place a wild tusker, ‘Arikomban’, was roaming had been an elephant habitat earlier than tribal folks had been resettled there.

A bench of Justices A Ok Jayasankaran Nambiar and Gopinath P known as for data and studies on the resettlement of tribal folks within the space again in 2000 and stated, “If it was an elephant habitat, you had no business resettling people there and putting them in danger.”

The courtroom stated that resettling folks in an elephant habitat was the “root of the entire problem”.

“We will examine it. If it was an elephant habitat, then your policymakers went way off board. If people were resettled there despite being aware of this fact, we will come down heavily on those responsible. Errors in history can be corrected later in time. We need to find whether the mistake happened and if yes, correct it,” the bench added.

The courtroom, nonetheless, declined to subject any course within the interim for the seize and captivity of the elephant, Arikomban, so named because it raids ration retailers and homes for rice.

Instead, the bench stated it could represent a five-member committee that will determine whether or not to seize the wild bull elephant and switch it right into a captive tusker or relocate it to inside areas of the forest.

The courtroom stated that until the panel got here to a call by subsequent week, the tusker was to not be captured and put in captivity.

It, nonetheless, allowed the tranquilising of the elephant for the restricted objective of radio-collaring it to trace its actions.

The detailed order containing the courtroom’s instructions is but to be made accessible.

During the hours-long listening to within the afternoon, the bench stated it was not in favour of seize and captivity of the tusker, as varied components “point to the inability of the state to look after elephants in captivity”.

The bench referred to among the locations the place elephants had been saved in captivity, as “Auschwitz” — a Nazi focus camp for Jews in Poland through the Second World War.

“We know the status of elephants kept in captivity in the state,” it stated.

The courtroom additionally stated that the difficulty being confronted by the folks of Chinnakanal and close by locations in Idukki district of Kerala, the place ‘Arikomban’ has been roaming round, wouldn’t be resolved by its seize.

“If not Arikomban, it will be another komban (tusker). As we have more and more settlements coming up near forest areas, you will keep having these problems,” it stated.

“We need to look for a long-term solution to the problem,” the bench added.

The state, through the listening to, pressed for seize of the elephant within the interim to assuage the fears of the native populace who’ve been dwelling in concern of additional assaults by the tusker.

“Children have stopped going to schools,” the state claimed.

The courtroom was listening to a PIL moved by two animal rights teams — People for Animals (PFA), Trivandum Chapter and the Walking Eye Foundation for Animal Advocacy.

The courtroom had final week stayed the state authorities’s order to tranquilise and seize ‘Arikomban’ until March 29.

Advocates Bhanu Thilak and Prasanth S R, representing the petitioners, argued through the listening to that the state had not adopted the rules in place for coping with such conditions of human-animal battle.

“The first step was to be radio-collaring and monitoring of the tusker. They have not yet done that,” Thilak informed the bench.

The petitioner organisations have claimed of their plea that the order to tranquilise and seize the tusker was “illegal and unscientific”.

The petitioners’ have urged the courtroom to subject an order directing the state authorities and its forest division to translocate and rehabilitate Arikomban to an alternate deep forest utilizing scientific strategies inflicting minimal trauma to it within the occasion of tranquilising and capturing it.

They have additionally urged the courtroom to direct the state to not hold the tusker in captivity within the elephant camp at Kodanad.

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday warned the state of strict motion if it discovered that the world within the Idukki district the place a wild tusker, ‘Arikomban’, was roaming had been an elephant habitat earlier than tribal folks had been resettled there.

A bench of Justices A Ok Jayasankaran Nambiar and Gopinath P known as for data and studies on the resettlement of tribal folks within the space again in 2000 and stated, “If it was an elephant habitat, you had no business resettling people there and putting them in danger.”

The courtroom stated that resettling folks in an elephant habitat was the “root of the entire problem”.googletag.cmd.push(perform() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

“We will examine it. If it was an elephant habitat, then your policymakers went way off board. If people were resettled there despite being aware of this fact, we will come down heavily on those responsible. Errors in history can be corrected later in time. We need to find whether the mistake happened and if yes, correct it,” the bench added.

The courtroom, nonetheless, declined to subject any course within the interim for the seize and captivity of the elephant, Arikomban, so named because it raids ration retailers and homes for rice.

Instead, the bench stated it could represent a five-member committee that will determine whether or not to seize the wild bull elephant and switch it right into a captive tusker or relocate it to inside areas of the forest.

The courtroom stated that until the panel got here to a call by subsequent week, the tusker was to not be captured and put in captivity.

It, nonetheless, allowed the tranquilising of the elephant for the restricted objective of radio-collaring it to trace its actions.

The detailed order containing the courtroom’s instructions is but to be made accessible.

During the hours-long listening to within the afternoon, the bench stated it was not in favour of seize and captivity of the tusker, as varied components “point to the inability of the state to look after elephants in captivity”.

The bench referred to among the locations the place elephants had been saved in captivity, as “Auschwitz” — a Nazi focus camp for Jews in Poland through the Second World War.

“We know the status of elephants kept in captivity in the state,” it stated.

The courtroom additionally stated that the difficulty being confronted by the folks of Chinnakanal and close by locations in Idukki district of Kerala, the place ‘Arikomban’ has been roaming round, wouldn’t be resolved by its seize.

“If not Arikomban, it will be another komban (tusker). As we have more and more settlements coming up near forest areas, you will keep having these problems,” it stated.

“We need to look for a long-term solution to the problem,” the bench added.

The state, through the listening to, pressed for seize of the elephant within the interim to assuage the fears of the native populace who’ve been dwelling in concern of additional assaults by the tusker.

“Children have stopped going to schools,” the state claimed.

The courtroom was listening to a PIL moved by two animal rights teams — People for Animals (PFA), Trivandum Chapter and the Walking Eye Foundation for Animal Advocacy.

The courtroom had final week stayed the state authorities’s order to tranquilise and seize ‘Arikomban’ until March 29.

Advocates Bhanu Thilak and Prasanth S R, representing the petitioners, argued through the listening to that the state had not adopted the rules in place for coping with such conditions of human-animal battle.

“The first step was to be radio-collaring and monitoring of the tusker. They have not yet done that,” Thilak informed the bench.

The petitioner organisations have claimed of their plea that the order to tranquilise and seize the tusker was “illegal and unscientific”.

The petitioners’ have urged the courtroom to subject an order directing the state authorities and its forest division to translocate and rehabilitate Arikomban to an alternate deep forest utilizing scientific strategies inflicting minimal trauma to it within the occasion of tranquilising and capturing it.

They have additionally urged the courtroom to direct the state to not hold the tusker in captivity within the elephant camp at Kodanad.