The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday lashed out at a petitioner who appealed for the translocation of rogue elephant ‘Arikomban’ to Kerala.
Petitioner Rebecca Joseph had prayed for translocating the elephant to Mathikettan Shola forests in Kerala.
The bench comprising Justices L. Subramanian and Victoria Gouri observed that this was not a PIL and that the petitioner was seeking publicity at the expense of the court. The division bench said that it cannot order the transfer of the elephant here or there.
The petitioner had prayed for an immediate and urgent action on the matter, but the court said that they were not experts in the elephant matter and that it would be transferred to the forest bench of the Madras High Court.
The rogue wild tusker, ‘Arikomban” which was transferred from Chinnakanal forest area in Idukki district of Kerala on April 29 by the Kerala forest department to the Periyar Tiger Reserve(PTR) had ventured into the Cumbum town in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district. The presence of elephants in the town frightened people and in the midst of the commotion a security officer, Palraj, got hit by the tusker while he was riding a two-wheeler. He fell down and later succumbed to injuries in a hospital.
This led to the Tamil Nadu forest department deciding to capture the elephant and on Monday it was tranquilized and brought to Tirunelveli forest range.
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