Calcutta HC asks Bengal govt to rename lions in VHP case
On Thursday, the Calcutta High Court issued an order to the Bengal government, instructing it to rename the lion ‘Akbar’ and the lioness ‘Sita’, following a dispute over their names after both animals were housed together in the same enclosure at the Bengal Safari Park near Siliguri.
During the hearing of the petition filed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) regarding the naming of the lioness after a Hindu goddess, contending that it was an insult, and keeping ‘Sita’ with ‘Akbar’, who was a Muslim emperor, Live Law reported that the court questioned the appropriateness of naming animals after Hindu gods or Muslim prophets.
The judge said that such a naming could be considered disrespectful and asked the Bengal government to rename them.
The government, on its part, through Additional Advocate-General (AAG) Debjyoti Choudhary argued that the animals were relocated from a zoo in Tripura (as part of an exchange programme) and it was the Tripura zoo which had named them.
It also said in court that the VHP was intent on creating a communal discord in Bengal as it had not protested when the animals were housed in Tripura, which named the lion Akbar in 2016 and the lioness Sita in 2018 (the implication being that VHP did not want to create any trouble there as the state is ruled by the BJP, a fellow Hindutva-supporting organisation).
The AAG argued that the issue regarding the names arose only after the lions were relocated to Bengal.
This directive from Justice Saugata Bhattacharya was an about-face from his previous remarks on Wednesday when he suggested that the lioness might have been named ‘Sita’ as a sign of affection, questioning the significance of the issue and noting that the lion, often depicted at the feet of goddess Durga, is revered by all.
