Abuser of Assam’s Elephant Joymala Arrested in Tamil Nadu Following PETA India Complaint; Group Renews Call for Seizure of Animal
For Immediate Release:
12 August 2022
Contact:
Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]
Meet Ashar; [email protected]
Guwahati – Following complaints filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and the intervention of the government body the Animal Welfare Board of India regarding the cruel beating of an elephant from Assam named Joymala (known as Jeymalyatha in Tamil Nadu), a mahout shown abusing her in a recent video was arrested and released on bail. Two viral videos show mahouts beating her. In the latest one, apparently recorded in the sanctum sanctorum of the Krishnan Kovil temple in Tamil Nadu, she can be heard screaming in pain.
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 registered against the mahout, and a wildlife offence report under Section 2(16)(c) read with sections 9 and 51 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972, along with Rule 13 of the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011, was registered by the Srivilliputhur Forest Range in July.
“Elephant Joymala deserves to be safe at a sanctuary, where she could live free from chains, pain, and fear,” says PETA India Manager of Cruelty Response Projects Meet Ashar. “Abused elephants commonly attack their mahouts and others around them when cruelly kept in captivity. But at a sanctuary, Joymala could get the psychological relief, veterinary care, and company of other elephants she needs. We urge the Assam government to insist on Joymala’s return so that she can be sent directly to a sanctuary.”
The Srivilliputhur Nachiyar Thirukovil temple reportedly kept Joymala in captivity illegally for more than a decade, as she was never returned to the Assam forest department after her six-month lease expired. The first video, which surfaced in February 2021, showed Joymala 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, 1972. Despite these actions, the second video shows that Joymala’s abuse continued, at the hands of another mahout.
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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