Groom rides on elephant to bride's house in Katigorah; "There is no law prohibiting it," DFO

Man sits on an elephant to ride to the bride’s house. Call it a show of strength or a blast from the past, it unfolded right in front of hundreds gathered on either side of the road. In Katigorah’s Chandipur Village, resides Sushil Baishnab. He is known as a well to do man in the vicinity and it was his son, Biswajit Baishnab’s wedding.

Biswajit Baishnab with his best man sat on an elephant and traveled around 2.5 kilometers to his bride to be Geetanjali’s residence in Gumra Bazar. The crowd was both astonished and awestruck. Few wildlife enthusiasts even wrote against it on social media.

Cachar DFO, Sunnydeo Choudhury said there is no rule that prohibits sitting on an elephant. “When you go to Kaziranga or any other national parks you go for a safari seating on elephant right?” replied the Cachar DFO. However, he added, “Only if it is a captive elephant it is allowed. Also, there should not be any sort of cruelty during the interaction with the elephant. There are laws to take strict actions if the elephant is harmed.”

While in real life, using elephants for “Borjatri” / “Baarat” is few and far it is often spotted in films. Movies that use wildlife come with a disclaimer, “No animals were harmed during the making of this film.” Maybe the Baishnabs should have put a similar disclaimer while riding to the bride’s house.

The family member, when asked about it, said that they wanted the wedding to be special and thus decided that the groom will ride on an elephant. They have rented the elephant and were of the view that they are entitled to ride on it to wherever they want.

A senior citizen, responded to the criticism saying it is like “making a mountain out of a molehill”. He said that the elephant is used for a wide variety of tasks by the contractors and in some cases by the government. Referring to the eviction drive in Rajanikhal Village in Dholai he said, hundreds of elephants were used to evict families with bags and baggage. “Also, if you visit construction sites in the hinterland, you will find it is the elephants towing out logs. They are used to straighten the giant size electric cables too,” added the senior citizen.

So, the Baishnabs had one supporter at least, and it is indeed not an unlawful activity as suggested by the DFO.