Karnataka HC issues norms to take care of jumbos adopted by trust

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued guidelines for care and custody of elephants adopted by the Radha Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust at Jamnagar in Gujarat, which has the custody of 153 elephants.

Disposing of a PIL by advocate MS Muruly questioning handing over four elephants to the trust by the Mysuru royal family on the ground that the state or the Union government is abdicating its responsibility by allowing organisations like the trust to give refuge to elephants, a division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Ashok S Kinagi issued the guidelines.

 The four elephants were rescued from a circus a couple of decades ago and the Mysuru royal family volunteered to take care of them after a court order. In 2017, the royal family wrote to the forest department that the handlers were not taking proper care of the animals and handed them over to the Trust after permission from the forest department to translocate them. The court said that the elephants should, till the end of their respective lives, be continued to be given the same care and facilities by the trust as specified before the court.