VHP moves Calcutta HC over lioness named ‘Sita’ at Siliguri zoo
In a writ petition filed before the Calcutta high court’s circuit bench at Jalpaiguri on Saturday, VHP said that naming of an animal after a religious deity is “sacrilegious and blasphemous, violating the religious beliefs of Hindus”
Kolkata: The Bengal unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has moved the Calcutta high court over the naming of a lioness after the Hindu Goddess ‘Sita’ paired with a male lion named after the Mughal emperor ‘Akbar’.
The wild cats were recently brought to the North Bengal Wild Animals Park at Siliguri in north Bengal from Tripura’s Sepahijala Zoological Park.
“The VHP Uttar Banga Prant has approached the Calcutta high court through its circuit bench in Jalpaiguri with utmost urgency and deep anguish regarding a recent incident that has immensely hurt the religious sentiments of the entire Hindu community by naming lion and lioness as Akbar and Sita,” said the statement issued by the VHP.
In a writ petition filed before the Calcutta high court’s circuit bench at Jalpaiguri on Saturday, VHP said that naming an animal after a religious deity is “sacrilegious and blasphemous, violating the religious beliefs of Hindus”. The petition also prayed that the name of the lioness be changed.
The seven-year-old Asiatic lion and five-year-old Asiatic lioness were brought to the Siliguri zoo from Sepahijala Zoological Park in Tripura as a part of an animal exchange program along with other animals earlier this week.
The North Bengal park authorities denied that any such name was given by it to the lioness. “We have not named it. The animals came to the park on February 12. Do you think that we have named it within this short time following all procedures?” said Kamal Sarkar, officer-in-charge of North Bengal Wild Animals Park.
“I am not aware of this. No animal anywhere in India should be named after Indian Gods and Goddesses. We have checked with the Tripura government, and they have not named it. We want to know who named them,” Lakshman Bansal, VHP state secretary, told HT on Saturday.
This is, however, not the first time that animals in Indian zoos have been named after Indian Gods and Goddesses.
Delhi Zoo, the country’s only zoo directly under the Union ministry of environment and forests, has a white tigress named Sita. A cheetah in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh was named Agni after the Indian God of fire.
