Forest officer suspended for naming lion pair ‘Akbar and Sita’
Agartala: The top forest officer, who named a pair of lion ‘Akbar and Sita’ in Bengal zoo, has been suspended. The Tripura Government suspended the official amidst a controversy surrounding the names of the lion and lioness. According to reports, the principal chief conservator of the forest, Prabin Lal Agrawal entered the names of the lions in the register during they were shifted to North Bengal from the Tripura Zoo as part of an animal exchange programme on February 12. However, the names sparked controversy. Following this the Bengal Forest Department informed the Calcutta High Court that the names of the lions were given by the authorities of the Tripura Zoo.
Last week, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) approached the Calcutta High Court on the names given to the lions and plead not to keep the lion Akbar and the lioness Sita together in the Siliguri Safari Park in Bengal. They also said that naming the lioness after Goddess Sita and the lion after Mughal Emperor Akbar at the North Bengal Wild Animals Park in Siliguri was “irrational”, “illogical” and “tantamount to blasphemy”. While hearing the matter on Thursday, the single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya urged the state government to consider giving the two big cats some other names.
While giving the verdict, the judge said, “Mr counsel, will you name your pet after some Hindu God or Muslim Prophet… I think, if any of us had been the authority, none of us would have named them Akbar and Sita. Can any of us think of naming an animal after Rabindranath Tagore? Sita is worshipped by a larger section of this country… I also oppose naming the lion after Akbar. He was an efficient, successful, and secular Mughal Emperor.” “I was thinking… whether an animal can be named after a God, a mythological character, a hero, freedom fighters or even Nobel laureates? Can a lion be named after Swami Vivekananda or Ramkrishna Paramhans? Can this be done? Though we aren’t considering the issue but think about it. We aren’t talking about the names of the pet animals of an officer of the zoo department. But you are a welfare and a secular State, why should you draw a controversy by naming a lion after Sita and Akbar?” the judge further said. According to reports, the lions are presently at the Sepahijala Zoo in Tripura. Meanwhile, the Bengal Forest Department explained that the names were given by Tripura and the Tripura Zoo authorities is responsible if any modification has been made.
