COIMBATORE: The mahout of the Srivilliputhur Andal temple elephant Jayamalyatha and his assistant were arrested on Sunday evening after a video that showed them thrashing the animal after chaining it to a tree went viral on social media. The video shows the female elephant flinching and trumpeting in pain as the two men beat it with sticks on its legs.
The female elephant was at the annual 48-day rejuvenation camp for temple elephants that began at Thekkampatti near Mettupalayam on February 8. The two men were booked under the Wildlife Protection Act and the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department officials suspended the mahout Vinil Kumar from service.
Officials said the mahout told them he beat the elephant to control it as it was agitated. Vinil Kumar has been the elephant's mahout since 2011. He is athird-generation mahout, said an official.
The issue has created a furore among the environmentalists who planned to approach the forest officials on Monday to lodge a petition against theduo. The video was filmed on Saturday. "One of our trust members had crossed the elephant camp at Thekkampatti on a motorcycle on Saturday evening. He noticed a mahout and his assistant thrashing a temple elephant which was chained to a tree and recorded it," said S Chandrasekar, founder, Vanam Trust of India, Coimbatore.