The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the West Bengal forest department's move to allegedly keep a lion named 'Akbar' alongside a lioness named 'Sita' in the same enclosure at Siliguri's Safari Park, LiveLaw reported.
The Bengal wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad approached the Calcutta High Court's circuit bench in Jalpaiguri on February 16. The matter will be heard on February 20 (Tuesday).
The state's forest department authorities and director of Bengal's Safari Park have been made parties to the case.
Reacting to the controversy, the forest department said the lions were recently shifted from the Sepahijala Zoological Park in Tripura and were not renamed upon arrival at the Safari Park on February 13.
The right wing outfit is irked by the fact that Akbar was a Mughal emperor and Sita is a character in Valmiki's 'Ramayan' and is revered as a Hindu deity.
According to LiveLaw, VHP has contended that the state's forest department assigned the names to the lions, and pairing 'Sita' with 'Akbar' was deemed disrespectful to Hindus. The outfit has demanded a change in the name of the lioness.
