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The makers of the TV show 'Bandhan' are involved in a legal battle with the Animal Welfare Board Of India (AWBI), which has accused them of cruelty towards the elephant calf in the show.
According to PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals), the baby elephant, Suman, was not treated well on the sets and was found to have developed a skin infection and exhibiting abnormal behaviour.
READ: 'Bandhan' to go off air
The show's producer, Siddharth Kumar Tewary , had earlier refrained from commenting on the issue, but has now broken his silence to tell us his version of the story .
"I refrained from commenting earlier as the matter was sub judice and anything I said would have interfered with the proceedings, but I was quite taken aback by the comments of certain people. It all started three years ago, when my wife Gayatri, also a writer, and I thought of the concept. We are animal lovers, would often see people ill-treating animals, and felt that a story showing the human-animal bond would be great. We knew it would be a difficult task shooting a television show with an elephant,and more so, we would never get permissions from AWBI. But I thought that if we approach them the correct way , they would surely approve, as the message to the viewers was more important. We had no idea about the rules, so we sent a mail to AWBI in 2012 asking about any special criteria to shoot with an elephant, and they replied, 'There is no special criteria, you would need ownership certificate from the wildlife department'. We identified the elephant, shared all the related paperwork with AWBI and finally , after a year, got the approval.
On the basis of this approval, we then went to Rajasthan and Gujarat Wildlife and took those permissions as well to transport the elephant. Eventually , we transported two elephants, one three years old and another older elephant. We created a proper shelter for them at our studio and followed all routine check-ups as per the rules.
We started shooting and it went well for a few months, and then suddenly , we got a letter from PETA claiming that we were shooting with an elephant calf and it's not allowed. We met the AWBI officials and they suddenly told us that we can't shoot with a calf under two years of age. We reminded them that that they had sent us a mail in 2012 saying that there is no age criteria, and that the elephant we are shooting with is three years old. The AWBI officials were supportive and gave us a go-ahead, but after a few months, they sent us a letter revoking the order with immediate effect, citing no reasons for the action.
When we asked for reasons, we were told the ownership of the elephant was an issue and that it was traded illegally earlier. We asked them, 'It's the same set of documents we had submitted earlier on the basis of which we got your approval.Now we are on air, how will we suddenly stop shooting? We neither have any idea about right or wrong documents, nor do we own the elephant. We have transported the elephant along with the owner and are just providing all the facilities as per your rules.' Our requests went unheard, and that's why we went to the High Court. The court ruled in our favour, and when the AWBI appealed, the court told them that the ownership of an animal is not in their jurisdiction and they can't order anyone to stop shooting on that basis - their job is to ensure that the animal is not illtreated. Then suddenly , the ownership issue became an ill treatment issue. AWBI took pictures from the web and showed them in court as evidence of ill treatment. The court asked them how they had found that out without visiting the animal. Eventually , a date was given to them for inspection. The officials came towards the end of January and submitted a report of ill treatment on March 2. We don't know how that is possible, because the story had taken a leap by the end of January and we had stopped shooting with the younger elephant a week before the inspection.
Also, the issue and case so far has always been between us and the AWBI. PETA has not been involved at all, at least officially. The court also had instructed to only send AWBI officials to the set. I don't know how the PETA team got there and took pictures, that too showing the animal in such a bad state. If we wanted to ill-treat an animal, why would we make a series which talks about the animal-human bond? I wish people understood the hard work that the team has put into a series with an animal as the lead. We made Mahabharat with so many animals and not once did we ever receive a complaint.
The show is shutting down soon because it didn't work, not due to this case. I can proudly say we made the series with the right intent and no one can take that from us. I sincerely wish that these things don't deter anyone from attempting something different in the future."
The makers of the TV show 'Bandhan' are involved in a legal battle with the Animal Welfare Board Of India (AWBI), which has accused them of cruelty towards the elephant calf in the show.
According to PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals), the baby elephant, Suman, was not treated well on the sets and was found to have developed a skin infection and exhibiting abnormal behaviour.
READ: 'Bandhan' to go off air
The show's producer, Siddharth Kumar Tewary , had earlier refrained from commenting on the issue, but has now broken his silence to tell us his version of the story .
"I refrained from commenting earlier as the matter was sub judice and anything I said would have interfered with the proceedings, but I was quite taken aback by the comments of certain people. It all started three years ago, when my wife Gayatri, also a writer, and I thought of the concept. We are animal lovers, would often see people ill-treating animals, and felt that a story showing the human-animal bond would be great. We knew it would be a difficult task shooting a television show with an elephant,and more so, we would never get permissions from AWBI. But I thought that if we approach them the correct way , they would surely approve, as the message to the viewers was more important. We had no idea about the rules, so we sent a mail to AWBI in 2012 asking about any special criteria to shoot with an elephant, and they replied, 'There is no special criteria, you would need ownership certificate from the wildlife department'. We identified the elephant, shared all the related paperwork with AWBI and finally , after a year, got the approval.
On the basis of this approval, we then went to Rajasthan and Gujarat Wildlife and took those permissions as well to transport the elephant. Eventually , we transported two elephants, one three years old and another older elephant. We created a proper shelter for them at our studio and followed all routine check-ups as per the rules.
We started shooting and it went well for a few months, and then suddenly , we got a letter from PETA claiming that we were shooting with an elephant calf and it's not allowed. We met the AWBI officials and they suddenly told us that we can't shoot with a calf under two years of age. We reminded them that that they had sent us a mail in 2012 saying that there is no age criteria, and that the elephant we are shooting with is three years old. The AWBI officials were supportive and gave us a go-ahead, but after a few months, they sent us a letter revoking the order with immediate effect, citing no reasons for the action.
When we asked for reasons, we were told the ownership of the elephant was an issue and that it was traded illegally earlier. We asked them, 'It's the same set of documents we had submitted earlier on the basis of which we got your approval.Now we are on air, how will we suddenly stop shooting? We neither have any idea about right or wrong documents, nor do we own the elephant. We have transported the elephant along with the owner and are just providing all the facilities as per your rules.' Our requests went unheard, and that's why we went to the High Court. The court ruled in our favour, and when the AWBI appealed, the court told them that the ownership of an animal is not in their jurisdiction and they can't order anyone to stop shooting on that basis - their job is to ensure that the animal is not illtreated. Then suddenly , the ownership issue became an ill treatment issue. AWBI took pictures from the web and showed them in court as evidence of ill treatment. The court asked them how they had found that out without visiting the animal. Eventually , a date was given to them for inspection. The officials came towards the end of January and submitted a report of ill treatment on March 2. We don't know how that is possible, because the story had taken a leap by the end of January and we had stopped shooting with the younger elephant a week before the inspection.
Also, the issue and case so far has always been between us and the AWBI. PETA has not been involved at all, at least officially. The court also had instructed to only send AWBI officials to the set. I don't know how the PETA team got there and took pictures, that too showing the animal in such a bad state. If we wanted to ill-treat an animal, why would we make a series which talks about the animal-human bond? I wish people understood the hard work that the team has put into a series with an animal as the lead. We made Mahabharat with so many animals and not once did we ever receive a complaint.
The show is shutting down soon because it didn't work, not due to this case. I can proudly say we made the series with the right intent and no one can take that from us. I sincerely wish that these things don't deter anyone from attempting something different in the future."
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