People from various walks of life including animal rights activists staged a demonstration and held a candle light vigil on Sunday seeking “justice” for Arjuna.
The 64-year-old elephant was gored to death by a wild tusker during an operation near Yeslur in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan district last Monday.
The activists assembled in front of the old Deputy commissioner office and raised slogans against the authorities. They were held responsible for the death of Arjuna who was a regular participant in Mysuru Dasara for more than 20 years besides having carried the golden howdah on 8 occasions.
The protestors have also expressed concern that the government probe into the circumstances leading to Arjuna’s death would be a cover-up and hence wanted the carcass of the elephant to be exhumed from the burial spot. The activists said no postmortem was conducted and theories are rife that Arjuna suffered a gun shot wound in his hind legs which resulted in the giant elephant slumping to the ground only to be gored by the rampaging wild tusker. Hence the activists wanted the guilty to be punished.
Arjuna’s death has sent shockwaves among the people and wildlife activists and there have been a slew of such protests since the last few weeks. A similar protest was staged by pro-Kannada activists on Saturday.
