Mumbai: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has filed an application before the Supreme Court-appointed high power committee (HPC) opposing Kolhapur Nandini Math's prayer that the elephant Madhuri be returned to the Math. The 36-year-old tusker was relocated from Kolhapur to Vantara in Jamnagar district of Gujarat in July last year following allegations by animal activists that the elephant was suffering in prolonged captivity.
Relocation to Vantara
The elephant was brought to Shree Swastishree Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Sansthan Math (Karvir) in Kolhapur’s Nandani village at the age of three. According to PETA, the elephant was confined to a concrete shed and was used for begging in the village. In 2017, Madhuri had attacked the chief priest Jinasena Bhattarak Swami of the math, leading to his death.
However, the last three years of the elephant’s life have been surrounded by a legal controversy after she was seized by the Telangana Forest Department for being illegally transported across states. While her custody remained with the Maharashtra Forest Department, the Jain math demanded the elephant be handed back to them and even challenged the Bombay High Court’s order to rehabilitate the elephant to Vantara in Gujarat’s Jamnagar. Even after the Supreme Court upheld the HC order, the village saw a large public gathering protesting against the ruling.
Fatal Incident
On July 30, 2025, Madhuri was shifted to Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust (RKTEWT) – commonly known as Vantara – where she has been living free of chains, receiving specialised medical care, including hydrotherapy, in the company of other elephants. According to Vantara, Madhuri also found a friend at her new home, where both the elephants are collectively healing from their past traumas.
At a press conference held on Friday in Mumbai, PETA's Khushboo Gupta said her organisation has prayed that Madhuri's permanent residence should be in Vantara. Gupta said, “There is no jivdaya in tearing Madhuri away from the hospital services and elephant company she so desperately needs and forcing her back into solitary confinement. Doing so would wholly reverse any health progress she has made. Attempts to send her back to the very place where she suffered for decades is a grave betrayal of her and of court orders that recognise her right to have her physical and psychological needs met as a living, thinking, feeling, social being.”
PETA alleged that the Math’s application contradicts the state government’s plan and aims to confine Madhuri to the same shed she was confined to, alone, for decades. Gupta raised concerns regarding the application to transfer the elephant away from veterinary facilities while she suffers from irreversible health conditions like chronic foot and bone diseases, which require continued specialised veterinary treatment and monitoring.
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