Official suspended over lioness Sita row

Tripura govt suspended the state’s principal chief conservator of forests Prabin Lal Agrawal amid a controversy surrounding the naming of a zoo lion and lioness as Akbar and Sita. The suspension followed a complaint from VHP to Calcutta HC, alleging the names hurt religious sentiments. The lion and lioness were relocated to North Bengal Wild Animals Park in Siliguri from Tripura’s Sepahijala zoo on Feb 12 in an animal exchange programme. Agrawal was serving as Tripura’s chief wildlife warden. He recorded the names of the lion couple as Akbar and Sita in the dispatch register while sending them to Siliguri. This sparked public outrage, leading to a PIL filed by VHP’s Bengal unit in Jalpaiguri circuit bench of Calcutta HC on Feb 21. The bench ordered changing the names of the lion pair. However, the Bengal forest department clarified that the names were given by Tripura, and any modification was the responsibility of Tripura zoo authorities.