KOCHI: The forest department has registered a case against Tripunithura Sri Poornathrayeesa Temple administration on Tuesday for violating the direction of the Kerala High Court regarding the conduct of the elephant parade.
According to Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Fen Antony, the temple authorities did not follow the court order to ensure the prescribed minimum distance of 3m between the elephants and 8m between them and the public witnessing the parade.
“We have taken extra care to follow the court direction from the first day of the festival and the incident that happened on Monday was not deliberate. Due to heavy rain, the caparisoned elephants had to be moved to the Anakottil during the Thriketta Purapadu ritual. The jumbos were moved out as soon as the rain stopped,” said Cochin Devaswom Board president Dr M K Sudarsan.
However, ACF Fen Antony said, “The elephants were paraded in a single line close to each other, in clear violation of the directions of the High Court and the district monitoring committee.”
Heritage Animal Task Force secretary V K Venkitachalam has submitted complaints to the forest department principal secretary, chief wildlife warden and Ernakulam collector urging to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the temple authorities.
“On December 2, 15 elephants were paraded inside the Anakottil without maintaining the minimum 3m distance. Besides, the same jumbos were paraded in the morning and evening, violating the court’s direction to provide the animals 24-hour rest after each parade. On December 1, the parade which started at 7.30pm went on till 1.30am,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prakash Iyer, a former secretary of the festival committee said, “The elephants which were moved to the Anakottil due to rain were moved out as soon as the rain stopped. Thriketta Purappadu, an important ritual of the temple, witnessed heavy rush on Monday evening”.