Kerala High Court to draft guidelines for jumbo parade

KOCHI: Aiming to prevent cruelty to elephants during festivals, the Kerala High Court will frame draft guidelines. A division bench of the HC orally directed all stakeholders, including elephant owners, animal welfare organisations and temple committees to submit suggestions before November 4. The HC will draft the guidelines and the parading of elephants will be subject to these guidelines till new rules are formulated. The intervention comes in the backdrop of increased incidents of cruelty to captive elephants.

The elephants are paraded for hours with their front legs tied together so closely that they can’t shift the body weight to the other leg. Can a human being stand for more than five minutes with both legs tied together, the court asked. It made the remarks when a suo motu case about the parading of elephants for festivals including the Thrissur Pooram came up for hearing.