Indian forest officer who named lion ‘Akbar’ and lioness ‘Sita’ suspended after row
Forest official suspended after naming row in India's state
Indian forest official who named a zoo lioness after Hindu goddess ‘Sita’ and her male companion after Mughal ruler ‘Akbar’ has been suspended following a prolonged controversy. Prabin Lal Agrawal, who served as the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife and ecotourism) in India’s Tripura state, was suspended on Saturday (Feb 24).
Agrawal is a 1994 batch officer of Indian Forest Services (IFoS) and was servingas the Tripura Chief Wildlife Warden when he named the two animals.
The pair was transferred from Tripura’s Sepahijala Zoological Park to the Bengal Safari Park in Siliguri on February 12. As media covered this development, the Bengal branch of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), an Indian nationalist organisation, took the matter to the Calcutta High Court and demanded the names be changed as they were offensive to religious sentiments.
“The court expressed its displeasure over the naming...," said advocate Subhankar Dutta, representing the VHP, who mentioned that the issue would soon be brought before a regular bench of the High Court.
On February 22, the high court orally observed that “an animal should not be named after any deity or figure belonging to any religion."
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“Why should you draw controversy by naming a lioness and a lion after Sita and Akbar?" the court reportedly said. Justice Saugata Bhattacharya also made clear that he did not support the names of both animals.
The court also asked whether an animal can be named after gods, mythological heroes, freedom fighters or Nobel laureates. It went on to ask whether the animals could be named after Swami Vivekananda or Ramakrishna Paramhansa.
Justice Bhattacharya later advised authorities to take a “prudent decision” and “avoid this controversy” without feeling the need to further drag this matter into the courts of law.
The judge had also directed the state and zoo authorities to rename the lion and the lioness.
(With inputs from agencies)