Hyderabad: The West Bengal forest department's decision to house a lion named 'Akbar' and a lioness named 'Sita' in the same enclosure together at the Siliguri Safari Park has been challenged by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in the Calcutta High Court.
On February 16, the VHP's Bengal division filed a petition in the Jalpaiguri circuit bench of the Calcutta High Court. The hearing is scheduled for February 20.
Earlier, several political parties and voluntary organisations objected to the rechristening of the lion couple that arrived at the Bengal Safari Park from Tripura's Sepahijala Zoological Park on February 13. A letter was dashed off to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for renaming them, leading to a political row.
The VHP asserted that housing 'Sita' with 'Akbar' would be an insult to Hinduism or the Sanatana Dharma and claimed that the lion and lioness were named by the State's forest department. The VHP has requested that the names be changed.
The forest department responded to the controversy by stating that the lion and lioness were moved to the Siliguri Safari Park from Tripura four days ago and their names were not changed when they arrived at the Safari Park. The right-wing group found it offensive that 'Sita', a Hindu Goddess in Valmiki's Ramayan, and Akbar, a Mughal emperor, had been put together in an enclosure.
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