PIL in Calcutta High Court flags 'elephant trafficking' from West Bengal

Kolkata: A unique PIL was filed at the Calcutta High Court on Saturday alleging rampant trafficking and illegal selling of elephants from West Bengal to other states and even other countries.

Claiming that elephants being public property cannot be sold or purchased in such a manner, the petitioner, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has sought the intervention of the Calcutta High Court to prevent their trafficking.

The petition alleged as many as 28 elephants have been trafficked from West Bengal to other states or even foreign countries during the last couple of years.

The petitioner especially mentioned a case where three elephants were found at an ashram in Bihar. On inquiry, the petitioner found that the elephants originally belonged to a circus company which gifted them to the ashram authorities.

The petitioner argued that since elephants are public properties, selling, purchasing or even gifting them is not permitted under the Wildlife Protection Act.

Wildlife activists also agreed with the petitioner that elephants have to be retained in the state where they are registered.

“Although elephants can move freely through the elephant corridors from one state to another or even from one country to another, that movement has to be spontaneous without any human intervention.

"It has to be seen whether the three elephants that the petitioner referred to were registered in West Bengal. If they were, then handing them over to an ashram in Bihar was an illegal act,” said a city-based wildlife expert.