Tamil Nadu Police and Forest Department File Cases on Abuse of Elephant Jeymalyatha Following PETA India, Animal Welfare Board Intervention

For Immediate Release:

29 July 2022

Contact:

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]

Khushboo Gupta; [email protected]

Chennai – Following a plea from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) took action over the cruel beating of elephant Jeymalyatha that was caught on camera, twice. The AWBI asked the Tamil Nadu principal chief conservator of forest and head of forest force and the Virudhunagar district collector and superintendent of police to direct the concerned authorities to conduct an enquiry and take action per the law. Following this, a first information report under sections 289 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and Section 11(1)(a) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, was filed against the mahout of the temple and a wildlife offence report under Section 2(16)(c), read with sections 9 and 51, of the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972, was reportedly registered by the Srivilliputhur Forest Range. In two separate viral videos, mahouts can be seen beating the elephant Jeymalyatha. In the latest one, apparently taken on the premises of the Srivilliputhur Nachiyar Thirukovil temple, she can be heard screaming in pain.

“Now that help is coming for Jeymalyatha, we hope this mistreated elephant will finally get to live free from chains, pain, and fear in a sanctuary,” says PETA India Director of Advocacy Projects Khushboo Gupta. “Abused elephants commonly attack their mahouts, devotees, and others around them when kept in cruel captivity. But at a sanctuary, the elephant can get the mental relief, veterinary care, and company of other elephants she needs.”

The Srivilliputhur Nachiyar Thirukovil temple reportedly kept Jeymalyatha in captivity illegally for more than a decade, as she was never returned to the Assam forest department. The first video, which surfaced in February 2021, showed Jeymalyatha being beaten at a rejuvenation camp and led Tamil Nadu’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to suspend the two mahouts involved. The Tamil Nadu forest department booked them under Rule 13 of the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011, and Section 51 of the WPA. Despite these actions, the second video shows that Jeymalyatha’s abuse continued.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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