The Tripura government has suspended the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife and ecotourism), amid a controversy surrounding the naming of a zoo lion and lioness as Akbar and Sita, respectively.
Prabin Lal Agrawal, a 1994-batch IFS officer who was the chief wildlife warden of Tripura at the time, recorded the names Akbar and Sita for the lion couple in the dispatch register before their transfer to Siliguri, as reported by the Times of India.
The suspension followed a complaint filed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to the Calcutta High Court, claiming that the names were offensive to religious sentiments.
The lion named ‘Akbar’ and lioness named ‘Sita’ were moved from Tripura’s Sepahijala Zoological Park to Bengal Safari Park in Siliguri on February 12.
Representing the VHP, advocate Subhankar Dutta mentioned that the court expressed displeasure over the naming, and the issue would be brought before a regular bench of the High Court.
The North Bengal unit of the parishad revealed their awareness through media reports that the lion and lioness, identified as IL26 and IL27 respectively, had arrived at the Bengali Safari Park as part of an animal exchange program, with the lioness being named “Sita.”