NEW DELHI: An Indian court has asked authorities to find new monikers for two lions named after a Hindu goddess and a Muslim emperor, following a religious group’s petition to stop them from sharing an enclosure.

Sita and Akbar were shipped to Siliguri zoo in West Bengal this month as part of an animal exchange programme from a neighbouring state.

That irked the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a prominent right-wing organisation that has campaigned against interfaith relationships.

The group took the matter to court saying the lion pair’s cohabitation was an act of “blasphemy” that hurt Hindu religious sentiments.

Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya of the Calcutta High Court asked government’s counsel to rename the pair on Thursday.

“These names should be avoided and discontinued to avoid unnecessary controversy,” he said from the bench, according to the Hindustan Times newspaper.

Government counsel Joyjit Choudhury told the judge that the state was “already thinking of renaming” the pair.

Sita is one of the main characters of the Hindu epic Ramayana and the wife of Ram, one of the Hindu faith’s most revered deities.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2024