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THE High Court in Calcutta, India, has asked a wildlife park in West Bengal state to change the names of two lions after a hardline Hindu group—Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)—complained that the monikers were disrespectful of their faith.

According to this video, court action followed after the two lions were placed in the park earlier this month, The lioness was named after Hindu deity Sita, aged five, while the lion, aged 7, was called Akbar, after the 16th Century Mughal ruler.

VHP successfully argued that naming the lioness after a goddess was “blasphemous”.

It also objected to keeping the lions in the same wildlife park, saying that the pairing of the two was an insult to their religious views.

VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said.Sita and Akbar cannot be allowed to live together, although the video report claims they were companions before being placed in the park.

Yesterday (Thursday) the court said that animals should not be named after:

Hindu gods, Muslim Prophets, Christian figures, Nobel laureates and freedom fighters.

Justice Saugata Bhattacharya said:

You could have named it Bijli [lightning] or something like that. But why give names such as Akbar and Sita?

In its complaint, the VHP—which has ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—alleged that it had received complaints from all parts of the country over the names.

She [Sita] is the consort of [Hindu god] Lord Ram and herself is a sacred deity to all Hindus across the world. Such act amounts to blasphemy and is a direct assault on the religious beliefs of all Hindus.

The organisation accused authorities in West Bengal, ruled by an opposition party, of approving the on purpose, and threatened to hold protests if they didn’t change the names and location of the animals.

Justice Bhattacharyya began hearing the case on February 21. He asked why naming the lioness Sita mattered, as it could have been named out of affection. But Counsel for VHP argued that this was slander, not affection—and if this was allowed, then a donkey too could be named after a deity.

The VHP said they learned of the names of the animals from the news of their arrival in the North Bengal Wild Animals Park in Siliguri from Sepahijala Zoological Park in Tripura.

One of these reports, in the Bangla newspaper Uttarbanga Sambad, was headlined “Sangir khoje astir Sita (Sita is restless for a companion)”

This, they claimed, was presenting the news in a “lewd” manner, one that was “bound to hurt the religious sentiments of all Hindus across the country.”

Hat tip: BarrieJohn.

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