In Bhattarak v. Union of India, (Bombay High Ct., July 16, 2025), a 3-judge panel of the High Court of Bombay in India upheld an order issued by Indian officials to a Trust operated by a Jain religious organization requiring the transfer of an elephant owned by the Trust to the Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust, an elephant care center. Petitioner contended, among other things, that the elephant was used for Jain religious ceremonies. The court said in part:
Before we part, we deem it appropriate to record that we have considered and chosen the survival of the elephant and its right to quality life, over and above the rights of men to use the elephant for religious rites. We have no doubt that the Petitioner-Math may have had no deliberate intent to cause injury to the elephant however, in the given circumstances of conflict between the rights of an elephant and the rights of Petitioner-Math to use the elephant in the discharge of its religious activities, priority must be given to the elephant’s welfare. The Court has duty under the doctrine parens patriae to secure the rights of the voiceless and hapless Mahadevi. We cannot but reminisce the words of Lawrence Anthony in his book ‘The Elephant Whisperer’,
“But perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those that we put up ourselves, and that until we allow not only elephants, but all living creatures their place in the sun, we can never be whole ourselves.”
Live Law reports on the decision.
