Calcutta: The Calcutta High Court ruled that naming the lions Akbar and Sita in West Bengal's Siliguri Safari Park was wrong.
The court asked whether animals should be named after God and lions should be named after national heroes.
Controversy should have been avoided. The court also observed that lions should be given some other name. Meanwhile, Bengal told the court that Tripura had given these names to the lions.
The documents were also presented. The Bengal government also informed the court that it is considering changing the names of the lions.
The issue came to the fore when the extreme Hindutva organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad came out against the forest department's move to house the lion named Sita along with the lion named Akbar in the Siliguri Safari Park.
In this regard, a petition was filed in the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of the Calcutta High Court with the State Forest Department and the Safari Park authorities as opposite parties.
The VHP alleged that the lions were named by the state forest department and that Sita was placed with Akbar to insult Hinduism. They also demanded to change the name of the lions.