Indian court to hear case on naming of 2 lions after protest by Hindu group

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - A Hindu nationalist group in eastern India has approached a court contesting the authorities' choice to name two lions after the Hindu deity 'Sita' and the 16th-century Muslim emperor 'Akbar'.

According to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a rightwing Hindu organization, its unit in eastern West Bengal state, last week approached the court for naming a lioness as "Sita” which “deeply offended Hindu sentiments, as Sita is a sacred deity to Hindus worldwide.”

“We have demanded that Sita is our deity and we respect mother Sita and (authorities) cannot keep her with Akbar in the same cage,” Vinod Bansal, the national spokesperson of the VHP, told Anadolu. “Why a wild animal is named after a deity of the Hindu community? That is badly hurting the sentiments of the Hindus. …We requested the honorable court to instruct the government to rename it.”

According to the VHP, the lion and lioness were recently brought to the state’s Bengal Safari Park, from Sepahijala Zoological Park in Tripura, as part of an animal exchange program.

“We had approached the zoo officials, but they didn’t give us any answer,” said Bansal.

He added that after the court accepted their petition last week, the date of the hearing was set for Tuesday.

“We seek justice and respect for religious sentiments and stern action against all those involved in the naming of the species,” Bansal said.

Reached out for an official version, Kamal Sarkar, a senior official at the park, told Anadolu that the matter is sub judice.

“As the matter is now before the court, I cannot comment (about it),” he said.

In Indian zoos, the animals are mostly given a pet name. There is no set criteria for how to give a pet name to an animal, according to officials.