The West Bengal government, on Thursday, February 22, informed the Calcutta High Court that it was considering renaming a lion named ‘Akbar’ and a lioness named ‘Sita’. A single-judge bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya was hearing a writ petition filed by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) seeking to rename the lioness ‘Sita’ - a character from the Hindu epic Ramayana - as the Hindutva outfit took exception to the fact that the lioness was accompanied by a lion named ‘Akbar’, named after the Mughal emperor. The court observed that VHP “espoused the cause of a greater section of people of our country belonging to a particular religion” and ordered that the petition be reclassified as a public interest litigation (PIL) and transferred it to a regular PIL bench.
The court had earlier asked the state government to submit before the court if the pair of lions that were brought from Tripura Zoo were named by the West Bengal Zoo authorities. The Additional Advocate General (AAG) submitted that the lions were named by the Tripura Zoo authorities. Justice Bhattacharyya heavily came down for naming the lions ‘Akbar’ and ‘Sita’ and questioned if lions would be named ‘Swami Vivekananda’, ‘Ramkrishna’, ‘Ashoka’ or ‘Tagore’.
“Who has given this name causing controversy? I was thinking whether any animal can be given a name after a god, mythological hero, freedom fighter, or Nobel laureate. You are a welfare state and it is a secular state. Why should you draw controversy by naming a lion after Sita and Akbar? This controversy should have been avoided. Not only Sita, but I also don't support the naming of a lion Akbar. He was a very efficient and noble Mughal emperor. Very successful and secular Mughal emperor. If it is already named, the state authority should shun it and avoid it. West Bengal should have challenged the names given,” the court observed, according to a LiveLaw report.
The AAG further submitted that the names were given by Tripura zoo authorities and that West Bengal authorities were considering renaming the lions. The state also informed the court that this case was causing controversy on social media and a bad impression about the state. Both the lions were brought to West Bengal from Tripura in an animal exchange program.
As the Calcutta High Court does not have jurisdiction to add Tripura authorities as a respondent in a writ petition, the judge granted liberty to petitioners to amend their plea as a PIL and file it. The court also directed the registry to re-number the case and place it before a regular PIL bench.