The ongoing dispute between the Governments of Tamil Nadu and Assam over the alleged mistreatment of a temple elephant named Joymala, has brought into focus the prevailing lacunae over private ownership of elephants in India. Joymala, who was leased by Assam to Tamil Nadu, is in the news after animal rights organisations alleged the elephant was being mistreated. Legal battles are underway at the High Courts of Madras and Gauhati, with both States making contrasting claims.
While Tamil Nadu is one of the States to have strict controls governing the private ownership of elephants, the lack of law enforcement in certain other States has led to a thriving “black market” in which elephants are captured illegally and trafficked to different places, allege activists and conservationists.
A response in 2020 from the Project Elephant Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act showed that the ownership of at least one out of every four captive elephants held by private individuals was not supported by the relevant documentation. The MoEFCC has clarified that it’s illegal to hold elephants in captivity without ownership certificates.
