Thrissur Pooram: Supreme Court stays Kerala HC restrictions on parading of elephants | India News
In a relief for organisers and fans of Kerala’s famed Thrissur Pooram, the Supreme Court on Thursday effectively stayed the directions of the state High Court regarding the parading of elephants.
A bench of Justice B V Nagarathna and N Koteshwar Singh held that any direction issued by the High Court contrary to Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2012 shall remain stayed. Justice Nagarathna said the Kerala High Court’s directions that mandated a three-metre distance between the elephants paraded at festivals and prohibition on procession using them on public roads between 9 am and 5 pm were “impracticable”.
Appearing for the Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu devaswoms, which conduct the Pooram festival, senior advocate Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court that Kerala High Court’s directions affect the conduct of the temple festival with a history of 250 years. He submitted the festival is part of the UNESCO heritage list and that the requirement to maintain 3 metre distance is virtually impracticable.
Justice Nagarathna said that “If the devotees are coming despite there being so many elephants, the principle of ‘volenti non fit injuria’ (to a willing person, it is not a wrong) will apply. They are taking the risk of coming.”
“Learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that there is a festival which is coming up on January 5 and it is practically impossible to comply with the directions issued by the High Court. However, he submitted that the of the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2012 shall be strictly complied with, both in letter and spirit,” the Bench said.
Sibal said the organisers have been following every direction of the state government and the recent developments stem from suo motu proceedings initiated by the High Court against animal cruelty in the wake of death of a dog
Sibal pointed out that there has not been any case of any devotee getting injured so far and that the High Court had not recorded anything to this effect.
Justice Nagarathna, while staying the implementation of High Court directions, reminded that courts should not get into law making.
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