'Free Sunder' campaign sparked by young elephant's plight

The plight of a 14-year-old elephant in custody of a prominent temple in Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra has sparked demands for its release with many Bollywood celebrities joining the cause while an NGO has moved the high court.
People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking release of the pachyderm, Sunder, which is likely to come up for hearing tomorrow.
So far, prominent Bollywood personalities including Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, R Madhavan, Raveena Tandon among others have backed the cause for Sunder's release. Actor Arjun Rampal has now joined them by donating two billboards for the campaign.

While one of the billboards is installed in busy Dharampeth area here near the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Sarjan Bhagat, another will come up in Kolhapur, the hometown of MLA Vinay Kore, organisers said.
The tagline emblazoned on the billboard, which shows Sunder lying chained to ground, reads: "Maharashtra Forest Department, Have a Heart: Free Sunder".
MLA Kore had donated the elephant to famous Jyotiba temple in 2007, where he had been kept chained and inside dark sheds for most of the time.
In December 2013, PETA obtained a video footage purportedly showing Sunder's mahout (handler) beating him up with a pole near a poultry shed where he had been moved allegedly at the behest of Kore.

Though the high court had ordered Sunder's transfer to a sanctuary, the forest department has not released him yet, organisers claimed, adding state forest minister Patangrao Kadam had also ordered Sunder's release.