The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in West Bengal on Friday, February 16 moved the Kolkata High Court circuit bench seeking renaming of a lioness ‘Sita’ that was brought to West Bengal from Tripura. The Hindutva outfit took exception to the fact that the lioness was accompanied by a seven-year-old lion ‘Akbar’, named after the Mughal emperor. Sita is a character from the Hindu epic Ramayana.  

On February 12, one lion and one lioness, seven-year-old Akbar and six-year-old Sita, were brought from Tripura’s Sepahijala Zoological Park to the Bengal Safari Park in Siliguri, as part of the animal exchange programme. Dulal Chandra Ray, the district chief of VHP, told the media that the name of the lioness was an attack on Hindu religion.

Both the big cats are zoo-bred and were born in Sepahijala Zoological Park. According to reports, Subhankar Dutta, the counsel for the VHP alleged that the lioness and the lion were named Akbar and Sita after arriving in West Bengal. But the Bengal Safari Park officials reportedly denied this allegation and said they had already been named before being shifted to Bengal Safari Park.  

Dutta further said the name ‘Sita’ for the lioness has hurt the religious sentiments of numerous people. VHP activists Anup Kumar Mondol and Lakshman Kumar Garwal filed the case against the naming of the lioness. The case would be heard on Tuesday, February 20.