Kerala's most dangerous tusker, which has killed 13 people and three elephants in its lifetime, has been allowed to be paraded at temple festivals again, after a ban on the tusker was lifted by the Thrissur administration on Monday.
The ban was lifted after a review meeting by the Thrissur District Monitoring Committee chaired by the Collector and the Assistant Conservator of Forests, based petition by the Thechikottukavu Temple Devaswom, which owns the elephant. The 55-year-old tusker, which is almost entirely blind, will now be paraded twice a week across temples in the state.
According to reports, the ban has been lifted with strict regulations. The elephant, popularly referred to as Raman, will be permitted to be paraded two days a week with a reasonable interval in between.
Weekly fitness tests are also to be conducted on the 55-year-old pachyderm. Further, an elephant squad with members from both the festival squad and the district monitoring committee is to remain close to the animal during temple festivals. The committee has also stated that whenever Raman is taken to a temple, the forest officials and police in the area are to be intimated in advance.
The ban, however, has not been lifted for the Thrissur Pooram, where Raman is usually paraded in front of the Vadakkumnathan temple on the first day of the festival. The elephant symbolically opens the temple main door, marking the beginning of the festival.
Branded the most dangerous tusker in Kerala, Raman has been banned from being paraded during festivals by the Kerala High Court at least seven times. Its last ban was issued on March 25, 2019, after the elephant trampled to death two persons and injured seven others during a house warming ceremony in Guruvayoor in February last year.
Prior to this, the 55-year-old has killed 11 people and three elephants, including Thiruvambadi Chadrasekharan, another wildly popular tusker that carried the Thiruvambadi Sri Krishna idol.
Soon after its ban last year, elephant lovers across the state launched a campaign titled 'Save Raman', urging then Thrissur collector TV Anupama to lift the ban on the tusker. Several comments by 'Raman fans' asked for the elephant, which is the tallest domesticated tusker in Kerala, to be paraded at festivals.
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