Tripura’s chief wildlife official suspended over naming lion pair Akbar and Sita

Tripura government suspended principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife and ecotourism), Prabin Lal Agrawal, amid heated controversy surrounding the naming of a zoo lion and lioness as Akbar and Sita, respectively.

According to a Times of India report, Agrawal was serving as Tripura’s chief wildlife warden at the time, when the names Akbar and Sita for the lion couple was documented in the dispatch register of Tripura’s Sepahijala Zoological Park before sending them to Bengal Safari Park in Siliguri on 12th February. Prabin Lal Agrawal is a 1994-batch IFS officer.

The suspension follows a complaint lodged by the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) with the Calcutta High Court regarding the naming of these animals, saying that the names had offended the religious sentiments of some citizens.

In their writ petition, the VHP argued that naming an animal after a religious deity constitutes a violation of Hindu religious sentiments.

However, authorities at the North Bengal Zoological Park have refuted claims of naming the animals in question.
Responding to the controversy, Justice Saugata Bhattacharya of the Calcutta High Court’s Jalpaiguri circuit bench has ordered the cancellation of the names to mitigate any further controversy, emphasizing over that animals should not be named after religious deities or figures belonging to any faith.

Justice Bhattacharya said Sita is worshipped by a large section of citizens, while Akbar “was a very successful and secular Mughal emperor.”

The North Bengal unit of the parishad became aware of the situation through media reports, noting that a lion and lioness, identified as IL26 and IL27, respectively, arrived at the Bengali Safari Park as part of an animal exchange program. They objected specifically to the lioness being named ‘Sita’.

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