Madras HC Dismisses Plea for Expert Committee to Monitor ‘Arikomban’

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court dismissed a petition that seek the Tamil Nadu government to establish an expert committee to oversee the movements of the rogue tusker, Arikomban.

Praveen Kumar Kerala, the petitioner from Kannur district in Kerala, presented the plea to the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, emphasizing that Arikomban, an elephant that lost its mother at the age of 2 and was raised in Chinnakanal Forest in Kerala’s Idukki district, only caused damage to houses and shops on forest land but did not pose a threat to civilian life.

The petitioner asserted that the encroachment of forest land for the construction of resorts, hotels, and hostels had led to a shortage of food and water for the local wildlife.

The plea described the sequence of events involving Arikomban: “On April 26, the Kerala forest department captured Arikomban and released it in the Periyar reserve forest. Subsequently, there was a minor incident when the elephant wandered into Kambam town. The Tamil Nadu forest department captured the elephant and released it into the Kothaiyar forest in Tirunelveli district.”

The petitioner contended that the Tamil Nadu Forest Department had not been adequately monitoring the movements of the rogue tusker. He urged the authorities to form an expert team and employ a satellite radio collar to track the elephant’s activities.

A division bench, comprising Justice SM Subramaniam and Lakshmi Narayanan, presided over the case and determined that the “authorities were taking necessary steps, and the court should not interfere in the matter.”

Previously, a resident of Kamban town in Tamil Nadu named Palraj was attacked by Arikomban while he was sitting on his two-wheeler, resulting in severe stomach injuries that proved fatal.

In April 2023, several farmers’ organizations in Idukki district marched to the Kerala High Court seeking relief from the rogue tusker, which roamed Chinnakkanal and nearby areas, causing destruction.

The rogue elephant earned the name ‘Arikomban’ due to its preference for consuming Ari, which means rice in Malayalam.