Assam sends team to bring back jumbo 'tortured' in Tamil Nadu temple

GUWAHATI: Assam has stepped up its campaign in Tamil Nadu to bring back a female captive elephant that was taken from the state to a temple in Madurai on lease from its owner in 2011 after a video by PETA exposed mahouts torturing the animal inside the temple premises went viral on the social media.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has ordered a team of officials to visit Chennai and Madurai on Friday to bring back Joymala, the 36-year-old elephant called Jeyamalyatha there, to the state after a video of the jumbo went viral on the social media.
According to an affidavit filed by Tamil Nadu forest department in Madras High Court in 2021, there are 63 elephants, mostly from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, in the state which are owned by temples and private individuals in the state. The Assam forest department had last year asked the Tamil Nadu forest department to return Joymala but that did not happen due to some technical issues forwarded by the southern state, an official said.
The chief minister's office said, "The four-member team will discuss the matter with the Government of Tamil Nadu and forest department to pave the way for return of Joymala to Assam."
Sarma holds meet with Assam forest minister over elephant
In view of the reported inhumane treatment shown in a section of the media meted out to Joymala, the CM held an emergency meeting with state forest minister Chandra Mohan Patowary and officials.
The team comprises additional principal chief conservator of forests Hirdesh Mishra as team leader, Professor of College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agriculture University Padmashree Dr Kushal Kumar Sarma, Morigaon SP Aparna Natarajan and Tinsukia district veterinary and animal husbandry officer Dr Rupjyoti Kakoti.
Sarma also took to Twitter saying, "We are against any form of cruelty to animals. Hence, reports of ill-treatment to Joymala, an elephant from Assam, in Tamil Nadu have pained us."
Joymala was leased to the temple authorities through the Assam forest department by its owner Girin Moran of Kakopathar in Assam's Tinsukia district on October 15, 2011. She is currently kept at the Krishnan Govil temple.
PETA chief advocacy officer Khushboo Gupta, in a letter to Assam's principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife) and chief wildlife warden MK Yadava on June 27, stated, "In 2021, you had proactively asked the Tamil Nadu government to send back elephant Joymala, aka Jeymalyatha, kept illegally by the Srivilliputhur Nachiyar Thirukovil Temple in Tamil Nadu, because she was viciously beaten at a rejuvenation camp by her mahout and kavadi. Now, for the second time, a video of a new mahout violently and repeatedly beating her within the temple premises has emerged."
The PETA officer added, "We request that you urgently seek that the chief wildlife warden of Tamil Nadu register a preliminary offence report against the concerned mahout under Section 51 and against the temple under Section 48A of the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972, because her lease with the Assam forest department expired several years ago. We request that you promptly act under Section 42 of the WPA to cancel her ownership certificate and transport the tortured elephant directly to a rehabilitation centre where she can finally live free of fear, without chains, and in the company of other elephants."