The division bench of Justice AKJayasankaran Nambiar And Justice Gopinath P. has thus issued certain directions for effective implementation of the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2012 and to ensure compliance with the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center and Others Vs. . Union of India (2016).

The Court considered a batch of written petitions for the prohibition of cruelty against captive elephants in Kerala through their parade and display in temples and festivals.

“We do not believe that there is any essential religious practice, regardless of religion, that would mandate the use of elephants at festivals. However, we do not propose to say more at this stage since our objective is now simply to regulate the practice of elephant parades during festivals… In other words, the animal is treated as an exchangeable community, with its owner or guardian concerned only with commercial income. Apparently, festivals in Kerala are now so commercialized that even before a festival, there is a war or some sort of competition between the temple committees responsible for conducting the festivals regarding the number of elephants paraded as well as the fame of some elephants/elephants. being paraded.

The Court noted that in Wildlife Rescue (supra), the Supreme Court had taken note of the cruelties faced by captive elephants in the State and issued directions to ensure that they were not subjected to any cruelty in scrolling through them.

The Court said it was not legislating, but merely filling the “gaps” in the Regulations for its proper implementation. It found that between 2018 and 2024, 160 captive elephants died and said this was a matter of “serious concern”.

The Court said: “There is no greater evidence of the fact that captive elephants are being exploited for commercial purposes without regard for their welfare than the statistics of deaths of captive elephants in the State of Kerala for the years 2018 to 2024, which indicates that almost 33 captive elephants died. % of the total number of recorded captive elephants (509 in 2018) died during this short seven-year period. Thus, there was a significant reduction in the captive elephant population in 2018. the state.”

The Court issued the following directions:

• a representative appointed by the Animal Welfare Board of India will also be included as a member of the district committee formed under Rule 10 to prevent cruelty to elephants in captivity.
• Festival organizers must submit their application with all relevant details to the district committee at least one month before the festival.
• the application should include the procession routes where the elephants parade, location, health/fitness certificate that the elephants are not sick or injured, details regarding the walking period with a certificate from a veterinarian
• The district committee must ensure that the elephants are given a rest period between two exhibitions which will not be less than 3 days.
• Exhibitors must ensure that elephants receive sufficient food, a continuous supply of drinking water, and a clean and spacious temporary home facility.
• The district committee must ensure that there is sufficient space for the elephant exhibition or parade. He said, “In other words, the number of Elephants that can parade will depend on the availability of space to respect the minimum distance set above inside the temple or any other place where the parade is proposed.”
• Elephants must not parade on public roads between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
• Elephants should not be transported between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. and they should not be exposed for more than 3 hours continuously.
• Elephants should not be forced to walk more than 30 km per day for transport, the court said: “No elephant shall be required to walk more than 30 km per day for the purpose of transport. Any transport above 30 km shall be carried out by a vehicle approved for the purpose. Transport of the elephant shall not be carried out more than 125 km per day, by any means. No elephant should be transported for more than 6 hours in a vehicle per day and the speed of the vehicle should not exceed 25 km per hour. an elephant. Officials of the Department of Motor Vehicles shall ensure that speed governors are fixed on all vehicles engaged in transporting elephants and that the maximum speed is fixed at the limit fixed above.
• Elephants must be given at least 8 hours of rest in a continuous 24-hour period
• the owner/custodian of the elephants must keep records in accordance with the rules
• no Devaswom organizer or council should allow deployment of elephant squads during the parade or display of elephants for festivals.
• prohibited use of capture belts or other crude and inhumane methods of capturing elephants likely to run amok or otherwise misbehave

The Court asked the State government to ensure strict compliance with its directions and directed it to issue notifications informing all stakeholders of the guidelines laid down by the Court.

File number: WP(C) NO. 31520 FROM 2024(S)

Case Title: In the case of Re Captive Elephants v Union of India

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Ker) 718