Two lions were brought from Tripura to Bengal Safari Park on February 12. While one of the lions was named ‘Akbar’, the other was named ‘Sita’. Now, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has moved the circuit bench of the Kolkata high court against the state government’s decision to name the lions ‘Sita’.
Sita is a Hindu deity and a character in the epic Ramayan. On the other hand, Akbar is the name of a Mughal emperor. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has alleged that naming the lions with a Hindu name is an attack on the Hindu religion.
The VHP district chief Dulal Chandra Ray told The Wire, “The lioness which was brought to the Bengal Safari Park has been named Sita. This has hurt the Hindu religion. We are strongly opposed to such a name and have thus come to the court to seek recourse.” He said that the government documents identified the two lions as ‘male and female Panthera lions’.
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“After they arrived here, they were named Akbar and Sita. So we have asked that the latter be changed. We have made the state zoo authorities and the Bengal Safari Park director parties to the case,” said Subhankar Dutta, counsel for the VHP. The case will be heard on February 20.
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