Free Sunder: Keeping elephant chained is cruel, Bombay high court says

MUMBAI: On Monday, during a Bombay high court hearing, Peta's lawyers Shiraz Rustomjee and Rohan Rajadhyaksha presented finding by elephant experts Dr EK Easwaran, assistant director, department of animal husbandry, Kerala and Dr Yaduraj Khadpekar, senior veterinary officer, Wildlife SOS-India who visited 14-year-old elephant Sunder on February 19 and argued that Sunder is being kept so harshly chained that he’s unable to lie down. The findings showed that Sunder is displaying signs of severe frustration and mental distress through constant head wobbling, swaying, and other abnormal repetitive movements. As per the report and evidence submitted to the court, Sunder was displaying aggressive behaviour only towards his own mahout, Hyder, and no aggression towards other people during the inspection, indicating that Sunder feels threatened by his own mahout. Sunder is at the centre of a case in which Peta is calling for the animal’s release to a sanctuary.

Member of legislative assembly Vinay Kore donated Sunder to Jyotiba temple in 2007, and the elephant has been kept chained since then. In December 2013, Peta obtained video footage showing that Sunder’s mahout violently beat him with a pole near a poultry shed where he had been moved at the behest of Kore. That same month, the high court of Bombay ordered Sunder’s transfer to a sanctuary, but he is yet to be released by principal chief conservator of forests Sarjan Bhagat. Kore and the Kolhapur division of the forest department claimed this is because Sunder is in musth (a period of heightened sexual urge, which can make captive bull elephants aggressive from frustration) and cannot be transported.

However, the recent experts’ report clarified that Sunder is not showing signs of normal musth condition, but ‘moda’ (adolescent) musth, and pointed out that Sunder can be transported to a sanctuary and that he should be, to avoid further damage to his mental status. The report also confirmed that Sunder’s current housing facilities are grim and do not even meet the minimum basic standards.

After hearing the arguments by Rustomjee and seeing the experts’ report, the court acknowledged that the mahout is untrained and that it is cruel to keep an elephant chained in this way. Peta continues to call for Sunder to be released to a sanctuary where he can live chain-free and in the company of other elephants.

Among stars who have taken to Twitter or joined the #FreeSunder campaign in other ways are Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Arjun Rampal, R Madhavan, Gulshan Grover and many others.

The matter is adjourned to March 11, 2013 for final hearing. A copy of Peta’s affidavit and the experts’ documentation is available upon request.

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