Kerala state recommends Mohanlal for Padma Bhushan, animal activists oppose

Kerala state recommends Mohanlal for Padma Bhushan, animal activists oppose
Kerala state recommends Mohanlal for Padma Bhushan, animal activists oppose
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The News Minute | November 23, 2014 | 1.30 pm ISTAnimal welfare activists in Kerala have written to the President of India opposing the recommendation by the state to award actor Mohanlal the prestigious Padma Bhushan.In a letter to the President of India, the elephant welfare NGO Heritage Animal Task Force has said that the actor was a prime accused in a criminal case for possessing 13 pairs of elephant tusks, Deccan Chronicle reported.On June 14 instant a case was registered under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 against the actor by the Forest Department for illegally having elephant tusks at his Kochi home. The case was registered at First Class Judicial Magistrate Court in Ernakulam. The then forest minister and actor KB Ganesh Kumar had refused to conduct an inquiry into the matter following which a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the High Court of Kerala, where the matter is pending. “As per records available from the office of the Kerala Chief Wildlife Warden, the film actor Mohanlal does not have any authorization from the Kerala Forest Department to own either an elephant or its trophies as per the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 or the Declaration of Wildlife Stock Rule, 2003,” Heritage Animal Task Force general secretary V K Venkitachalam said in the letter. The actor had said that he received these as gifts and that he had all relevant documents to prove the same. However, the act prohibits persons from even gifting such objects. Read - Keralites think only sex can happen between man and woman: Mohanlal opposes moral policing  

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