Lioness Sita Housed With ‘Akbar’ Lion, VHP Moves Court (image-pixabay)

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the West Bengal forest department’s alleged move to keep a lion named ‘Akbar’ alongside lioness ‘Sita’. The Bengal wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad approached the Calcutta High Court’s circuit bench in Jalpaiguri on February 16.

The matter was posted to be heard on February 20. As per the Livelaw report, the pair that was brought from Sepahijala Zoological Park in Tripura was already named Akbar and Sita even before they were bought on 13th February. The forest department officials further claimed that they did not rename the lions.

However, the right-wing outfit is irked by the fact that Akbar, a Mughal emperor is housed along with Sita, a character in Valmiki’s ‘Ramayan’. Sita is revered as a Hindu deity.

The VHP has claimed that the lions were named by the State’s forest department and that housing ‘Sita’ with ‘Akbar’ would be an insult to the Hindu religion. They have asked to rename the lions.

On February 16, the local chapter of the VHP moved the Jalpaiguri circuit bench against the state government with a petition over the naming and demanding that Sita’s name be changed. VHP district chief Dulal Chandra Ray alleged that the naming has come as an attack on the Hindu religion.

“The lioness which was brought to the Bengal Safari Park has been named Sita. This has hurt the Hindu religion. We are strongly opposed to such a name and have thus come to the court to seek recourse,” Ray said, reports The Wire.