High court: Rename lioness to avoid controversy

SILIGURI: Calcutta HC bench in Jalpaiguri on Thursday said the name of Sita, the lioness in Siliguri's Bengal Safari Park - which has been in the eye of a stir after VHP filed a petition alleging that it has hurt religious sentiments - should be changed "to avoid controversy."
"Direct authorities to avoid controversy, discontinue with present names and give separate names to animals," Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya told Bengal additional advocate general.
"A zoo officer can give any name to a pet dog. But in a welfare state, why should one invite controversy by naming animals in a zoo after a revered individual - be it a God, a mythological figure, a freedom fighter or a Nobel laureate?" Justice Bhattacharyya asked the additional advocate general.
Observing that naming the lioness Sita had needlessly invited controversy, the judge said he was also against the lion in the safari being named Akbar, after a Mughal emperor, who was both successful and secular.
Pointing out that the big cats had been christened by authorities at Sepahijala Zoological Park in Tripura, from where they had been brought to Bengal on an exchange programme, the additional advocate general said he was in favour of the animals being renamed but added that the decision rested with state authorities.
The additional advocate general cited a document issued by Sepahijala Zoo to prove that the lion and lioness were named in Tripura.