Elephant, Joymala from Assam beaten and tortured in Tamil Nadu is finally coming home.

By Apekshita Sonowal
After the painful video of an elephant named Joymala from Assam beaten and tortured in a temple in Tamil Nadu went viral, the Assam Government is finally bringing back Joymala to Assam.
According
to reports, Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma chaired a meeting with
the Forest Minister of Assam Chandra Mohan Patowary along with other top forest
officials today. After which, it has been decided that a team of the Forest
Department will be sent to Tamil Nadu on September 2 to bring back not just
Joymala but eight other elephants who have been illegally kept there since
2008.
Earlier,
Tamil Nadu Govt was not cooperating with Assam Govt in sending back the elephant
despite the Assam government’s assurance to bear all expenses of Joymala’s shifting.
The Tamil
Nadu Govt in May or June 2022 informed that the elephant was in
the possession of the temple and not the Forest Department’s hence even if
Assam Govt tried to bring back Joymala, it would have been a case of robbery.
The case
came to light when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), India posted
videos and exposed how Joymala or Jeymalyatha was being brutally beaten and
tortured by the new mahout in the Nagercoil district of Tamil Nadu.
According
to PETA India, the elephant was being kept illegally by the Srivilliputhur
Nachiyar Thirukovil Temple in Tamil Nadu and has been dealing with animal abuse
for a long time now.
In the
first video, the elephant was heard screaming in pain while being inhumanely
beaten by two mahouts at a rejuvenation camp.
After
which, the Tami Nadu Forest Department asked PETA India to further inspect and
report on the case. But the mahout refused to allow PETA India’s investigation
team to take any video or photographs. However, the PETA team somehow managed
to get some footage of the mahout’s ill-treatment of the elephant.
In the
second video, it can be seen that the mahout used pliers to painfully twist the
elephant’s skin and chains to chain her to the floor in the sanctum sanctorum
of the Krishnan Kovil temple of Tamil Nadu. Many ankuses were also said to be
found in the shed where she’s chained for over 16 hours a day.
Following
this, PETA India submitted a new veterinary inspection report to the forest
department officials in Tamil Nadu and Assam about the continued brutality done
to Joymala.
After repeated
complaints filed by PETA India and intervention of the Animal Welfare Board of India,
an FIR against the mahout under sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 was registered at Virudhunagar police
station. Furthermore, a wildlife offence report has also been registered under
the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972 and Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management
and Maintenance) Rules, 2011 by the Srivilliputhur Forest Range in July.
Joymala
was reportedly never returned to the Assam Environment & Forests Department
by the SNT Temple even after her six-month lease got expired.
According
to PETA India, in the first video which surfaced in the year 2021, February,
the two mahouts who were beating Joymala at a rejuvenation camp were suspended
by Tamil Nadu’s Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department. The
Tamil Nadu Forest Department booked them under Rule 13 of the Tamil Nadu
Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011, and Section 51 of
the WPA, 1972.
But
despite these actions taken, unfortunately, nothing seemed to change and the
abuse by another mahout against Joymala continued which was very much evident
in the second video. Currently, she continues to be abused by the latest
mahout as exposed by PETA India’s inspection report.
Reportedly,
Joymala and eight others were leased out in Tamil Nadu in 2008 for six months
in the name of temple visits but were kept illegally ever since. Currently,
Joymala is at the nearby Krishnan Kovil temple where the recent viral video was
posted by PETA India. According to reports the actual owner of Joymala is Girin
Moran from Assam’s Jorhat district.
The video sparked anger amongst the netizens and animal activists in Assam appealing to the government of Assam for the elephant’s rescue and bringing her back to Assam.
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