Return lion cub to circus, orders CJM

VADODARA, May 5: In a significant development in the lion cub case, the Vadodara Chief Judicial Magistrate has directed the State Forest ...

VADODARA, May 5: In a significant development in the lion cub case, the Vadodara Chief Judicial Magistrate has directed the State Forest Department to hand over custody of the cub, recovered from a birthday party in the city two months ago, to the Apollo Circus where it belonged.

This followed a representation by the Apollo Circus during a hearing in the court on Monday, stating that the cub had to be returned to the circus so that it could be with its mother. The Forest Department, however, contended that the animal could not be retained by any private party, that it could not be exhibited as it had been at the Jhaveri farmhouse from where it was seized, and that the circus did not even have the necessary ownership certificate.

Counsel for the circus contended that his client, Ranjandas Babu, had already written to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Nagpur, for the necessary ownership certificate. He stated that Chief Conservator of Forests has also sent a recommendation to Nagpur to issue the certificate. This was another reason the cub be returned to the circus where its mother is.

The court upheld the contentions of the circus owners and issued an interim order directing the Forest Department to return the animal on condition that the animal be referred to the Forest Department for medical examination every three months, a report of which should be submitted before the court, that it should not be exhibited in any circus show and that it should not be sold to anyone. The order will be in force till the final disposal of the case.

Highly placed sources in the Forest Department told Express Newsline that a circus delegation armed with the order on Wednesday went to the GEER Foundation at Gandhinagar, where the cub had been shifted after it was recovered from Anurag farmhouse belonging to the Jhaveris. However, forest officials in Gandhinagar refused to hand over custody to the circus delegation as the latter reportedly didn8217;t have a transit pass to transfer the animal.

Vadodara Forest officials, however, claimed they were not aware of the court order and said they got wind of it only after they read about it in a local vernacular daily on Wednesday morning. The department has even moved an application before the CJM8217;s court for a certified copy of the order.

Interestingly, deputy conservator of forest R M Patel and State chief conservator of Forest Wildlife G A Patel expressed shock over the newspaper report, though they had been represented in court by the Public Prosecutor. They said their next moves would be decided after they received the court order.

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So far, the forest officials have recorded the statements of the February 27 birthday party host Anupam Zaveri, an NRI, circus manager V C Shanku, and one Rajesh Shah of a Vadodara ad agency over the past over 60 days. A second round of interrogation was yet to be completed in the case.

Meanwhile, Assistant Conservator of Forest Wildlife Dinesh Mistry, who was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly beating up a tribal employee of Apollo Circus recently during interrogations, has been released on conditional bail.