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‘Lioness Sita can’t stay with Lion Akbar, it’s blasphemy’

A Hindu nationalist group, has filed a lawsuit against North Bengal Wild Animals Park in Siliguri for naming a lioness Sita and a lion Akbar.

By Ground report 18 Feb 2024

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‘Lioness Sita can’t stay with Lion Akbar, it’s blasphemy’

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu nationalist group, has filed a lawsuit against the North Bengal Wild Animals Park in Siliguri for naming a lioness Sita and a lion Akbar. The VHP claims that the names are an insult to their religion and demands that they be changed.

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The lioness and the lion were brought to the Siliguri zoo from the Sepahijala Zoo in Tripura on Feb 12, along with eight other animals, as part of an animal exchange programme. The VHP says that naming the cat family after a Hindu goddess and a Muslim emperor is irrational, illogical, and blasphemous.

The VHP has moved the Circuit Bench of Calcutta High Court in Jalpaiguri district and sought immediate action from the court. The hearing is scheduled for Feb 20. The VHP wants the court to order the authorities to rename the lioness with a secular name and stop using religious names for animals in zoos.

"The situation is urgent, and so the VHP has submitted a writ petition to the court," said VHP national spokesperson Vinod Bansal in a press statement. "We are pleading for immediate action, which includes insisting that the lioness's name be changed to a non-religious one and ordering authorities not to use religious names for animals in zoological parks. We strive to seek justice, ensure respect for religious sentiments, and demand strict action against everyone who partakes in such naming of species."

The VHP also seeks justice and respect for their religious sentiments and stern action against those who named the animals. The VHP says that they have approached the state forest officials several times to protest against the names, but they were ignored.

The West Bengal forest minister and TMC MLA Birbaha Hansda has denied any involvement in naming the animals. She says that the names were given by the Tripura zoo, where the animals came from. She accuses the VHP of playing dirty politics and says that the final names will be given by the Chief Minister.

The lion, aged seven years and eight months, and the lioness, aged five years and six months, live in separate cages. It will take a minimum of two months before the pair is placed together in a safari display area. The park, which spans 297 hectares, has allocated 20 hectares specifically for these big cats.