PETA India Moves Supreme Court to Restore Ailing Elephant Madhuri’s Rehabilitation at Vantara
PETA India has approached the Supreme Court seeking its urgent intervention to restore the previously ordered rehabilitation of elephant Madhuri (also known as Mahadevi) to Vantara’s Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust (RKTEWT) in Jamnagar. On 11-12 September, Madhuri was ripped from the serene sanctuary, returned to the Nandani Math in Kolhapur—Swastishri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Sanstha (Karveer) (“math”) and forced to endure a barrage of fireworks, screaming crowds, and blaring horns immediately upon reaching Kolhapur, where she shockingly arrived shackled and hobbled, like a prisoner. RKTEWT is supported by Reliance.
PETA India’s application notes that after living 33 years in solitary confinement and chains at the math, Madhuri finally had the opportunity to form social bonds with other rescued elephants, walk free from chains, and receive appropriate treatment for her pain through state-of-the-art elephant-specific veterinary facilities at Vantara. Madhuri arrived at Vantara with chronic foot issues, signs of laminitis, a long-standing abscess, and painful swellings on both knees, and fractures and arthritis from her time walking on the tar roads for the processions and standing stationary for long periods on hard surfaces at the math.
The application pleads that Madhuri’s transfer back to the math was in violation of the Bombay High Court’s order dated 16 July 2025 and the Supreme Court’s earlier order dated 28 July 2025 directing her transfer to RKTEWT, Jamnagar, for long-term rehabilitation and species-specific specialized care.
The filing comes after the Supreme Court-appointed High-Powered Committee (HPC) permitted Madhuri’s return to the math on 9 September, even though its own three-member sub-committee concluded that the facility was not fit for “long-term management” of Madhuri following an inspection. The sub-committee found inadequate opportunities for exercise and socialisation, high human interference and tar roads on Madhuri’s proposed walking path, difficult access to a perennial water source, a risk of water contamination, and a lack of continuous specialised veterinary care and infrastructure. Significantly, the report records the math authorities themselves stated that the facility was “purely for religious purposes” and that “the rehabilitation needs are not being provided in the Math.”
PETA India has also submitted evidence to the Supreme Court that shows Madhuri is now kept tethered alone in the shed from where she was seized, with paintings of trees on its walls in place of the natural surroundings she enjoyed at RKTEWT.
A joint medical examination conducted by an HPC Sub-Committee along with PETA India representatives at RKTEWT in October 2025 documented Madhuri suffering osteoarthritis, osteolysis and multiple stress fractures from her time at the math. It noted the strong social bond with an elephant friend, Shanti. In December, the HPC itself noted that medical opinion “strongly emphasizes continuity of care” and warned that relocating Madhuri could risk “regression or physical deterioration.”
The HPC had ordered Madhuri’s permanent rehabilitation at RKTEWT on 3 June 2025 after finding that the math lacked the infrastructure and expertise necessary to meet her complex medical and behavioural needs. The Bombay High Court upheld that decision on 16 July 2025, and the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s directions on 28 July 2025. However, after a politically motivated campaign and boycott of Reliance products to force her return, Vantara supported her return to the math.
