A 26-year-old mahout failed to get the custody of elephant Lakshmi as the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain his habeas corpus plea seeking its release from alleged illegal detention.
Lakshmi was in news a few months back when she was allegedly taken away by the mahout before Delhi police rescued her and took to a forest shelter.
Saddam, the mahout of the 47-year-old pachyderm, had moved the apex court seeking its directions to release Lakshmi from "illegal detention" at Elephant Rehabilitation Centre and bring her back to Delhi.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde wondered how a habeas corpus plea can be heard for an elephant and asked the lawyer appearing for the mahout whether he had document to show legal right of possession.
"Is elephant a citizen of India?" the bench, also comprising Justice B R Gavai and Justice Surya Kant, said.
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The Supreme Court said that if the animal was with the Elephant Rehabilitation Centre, the petitioner would have to produce some documents to get back the custody of Lakshmi.
At this, advocate Wills Mathews, appearing for the petitioner, withdrew the petition with liberty to approach the high court.
The top court in its order said, "Counsel for the petitioner seeks permission to withdraw this petition with liberty to approach the High Court for appropriate relief. Permission sought for is granted. The writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to approach the High Court for appropriate relief in accordance with law."
In July last year, the elephant had gone missing and a countrywide alert was issued to trace it. The animal was found by the Delhi forest department two months later. The police had "detained" the jumbo -- Lakshmi -- along with its mahout Saddam, from Yamuna Pusta area in the national capital in September.
The plea alleged that Lakshmi was not being kept properly in the rehabilitation centre at Haryana and that the elephant would eat and drink fine only when Saddam is around. According to the petition, Saddam and the elephant has a long bonding of over 10 years since 2008.
"Their friendship mushroomed to such an extent that 'Lakshmi' after some time totally refused to accept food, if not medicines from anybody other than the petitioner. Lakshmi could sense the presence of the petitioner even from a distance of two to three km by smell.
"The petitioner communicated with her like a family member, and nobody else knew Lakshmi better than the petitioner. The family members of the petitioner also loved Lakshmi, and they were living almost like a joint family," Saddam said in his plea.
The petition referred to the top court's judgment in Jallikattu case to assert that even animals have the right to live with dignity.
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