Kathmandu: Actor and film producer John Abraham has sent an urgent letter to Badri Prasad Pandey, Nepal’s Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, urging him to end the abuse of animals at the Chitwan Elephant Festival, where elephants are beaten into submission and forced to race, give rides, and “play” polo and football.

PETA Asia has exposed late-December festival repeatedly hitting and jabbing elephants with bullhooks (weapons that resemble a fireplace poker with a sharp hook on one end), sticks, and makeshift wooden knives. One elephant was beaten for nearly a minute, and many suffered from deep, bloody wounds around their heads and ears. When not being forced to perform during the festival, the elephants are used for rides by tourists visiting Chitwan.

“These intelligent, sensitive animals endure immense physical and emotional strain during these games,” writes Abraham. “As someone who has witnessed the beauty of elephants in their natural habitat, I can tell you that they symbolise strength, grace, and wisdom. They are a national treasure in so many ways, and Nepal has the opportunity to lead the way in showing the world how to respect and protect these magnificent animals.”

Elephants are highly social animals who thrive in the company of their extended families. Births are joyous celebrations, and the deaths of loved ones are mourned. But elephants in captivity are deprived of everything natural and important to them and often exhibit obsessive, repetitive behaviours indicative of severe psychological distress.

Abraham concludes his letter with a request to Pandey to cancel the elephant games and steer Nepal “towards a future where traditions can evolve to reflect our shared values of kindness and respect for all living, feeling beings.”

“Nepal holds a special place in my heart, and I am confident that its bright future will be shaped by decisions that honour its people, wildlife, and unparalleled natural beauty,” Abraham writes.

New Delhi, Dec 20: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday revealed that New Delhi has taken “seriously” the latest threat issued by the US-based Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun against India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra and raised it accordingly with the authorities in Washington.

In a recent video, Pannun threatened that Kwatra is on the radar of pro-Khalistani Sikhs in America for allegedly coordinating with Russian authorities, who in turn were providing inputs to Indian intelligence agencies on the Khalistani network in the United States.

“As and when such threats are issued, we take them very seriously and raise them with the US government. In this particular case also, we have raised it with the US government and it is our expectation that the United States government will take our security concerns seriously and act on it,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Friday.

A former Foreign Secretary, Kwatra took charge as India’s Ambassador to the United States in August this year, succeeding Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

His appointment came at a time when Khalistani separatists continue to target Hindu community in the country and also the Indian missions.

Khalistanis have been found to be involved in incidents of defacement of temples, including in California and New York, and also in acts of arson and vandalism at the Indian embassy in San Francisco.

Several lawmakers, including Shri Thanedar – a Democrat elected to the House of Representatives from Michigan state – have raised alarm over the “substantial increase” in attacks on Hindus and their places of worship in the United States.

The lawmaker had recently expressed frustration with the investigating agency for their failure to find the culprits behind the incidents at the temples and the consulate.

“It appears to be a very coordinated effort to attack these places of worship which has created a lot of fear in the community. And often what we have seen is that the law enforcement, the local law enforcement enters into these investigations and rarely any suspects have been identified, and that investigation goes nowhere.

“What that does is that it leaves the community feeling like nobody cares about them. Nobody reports back to them on what’s going on. And that means that the community continues to live in fear, the computing community continues to live in an adverse situation with essentially no help from law enforcement,” he said.

The lawmaker went on to state that he and his colleagues are asking the US Department of Justice for “coordinated efforts between the local law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Department of Justice, and higher priority needs to be assigned to such hate crimes against this peaceful community”.

Kolkata, Dec 20: The Calcutta High Court on Friday rejected the state government’s objections on the venue for the sit-in protest by the West Bengal Joint Platform of Doctors, an association of senior doctors, against the default bail granted to two accused of tampering with the evidence in the case of the ghastly rape and murder of a woman junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital within the hospital premises in August.

The single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh on Thursday already gave permission to the doctors’ body to hold the sit-in-demonstration at Doreena Crossing in central Kolkata.

At the same time, the bench gave the opportunity to the administration to furnish its views by Friday on the possible restrictions on the programme.

However, on Friday, the counsel for the state government objected to the venue of the demonstration on grounds of traffic congestion on occasions of Christmas and New Year’s Eve and suggested an alternative location in the area for the event.

However, Justice Ghosh refused to accept the argument and said that when he had already given permission on Thursday for the demonstration to be conducted at Doreena Crossing, there was no reason for the administration to raise objections on the venue.

He advised the state administration to raise a seven-foot tall guardrail around the protest venue and ensure the protesters stayed within the enclosure during the protest period. He also said that under no circumstance, the protest programme can be extended beyond December 26.

He also ruled that the protesters should not make any objectionable comment from the protest venue or do anything that might hamper the festive mood of the city in this part of the year.

Justice Ghosh also ruled that under no circumstance the number of protesters assembling at the venue should exceed 250.

Last week, a special court in Kolkata granted default bail to the former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar Sandip Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal as the CBI failed to file the supplementary charge sheet against the two within 90 days from the day of their arrests. Both were accused of misleading the investigation and tampering with evidence while the initial investigation was being carried out by Kolkata Police. Following the development, the representatives of the medical fraternity in the state as well as the victim’s parents accused the CBI of gross incompetence