HC entertains PIL on monkey menace in Agra

The court, while admitting the PIL, further observed that sometimes the attacks by the monkeys have resulted in deaths of young and old. The petition seeks to keep the monkeys at bay through the intervention of the court, particularly in view of the fact that the civil authorities have failed to check the menace.

Hopes have revived yet again for addressing the issue of long pending monkey menace in Agra after an RTI activist and lawyer from Agra, Kishan Chand Jain, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Allahabad high court. The court, in its order on July 19, has ordered for issuing notice to respondents for next date of August 17 fixed in the case.

Monkeys often attack tourists on the Taj Mahal premises and the Agra fort. (HT File Photo)

The PIL bearing no. 1207 of 2022 has been filed with mention of various news including one published in Hindustan Times with title “Monkey business at Taj: Officials chase simian after it steals tourist’s purse” about one such attack by monkeys on the Taj Mahal premises when a simian stole the purse of a tourist. Filed as Annexure 8, the news clipping of Hindustan Times dated 19.08.2016 forms part of the PIL. The petition was filed by counsel Rahul Agarwal in Court No. 29.

“The bench of Justice Pritinker Diwakar and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava observed on July 19 that the instant petition in the nature of PIL seeks to address the menace of monkeys which has recently plagued the city of Agra where monkeys are found troubling the tourists and local residents alike resulting in serious injuries and loss of articles and valuables,” informed Jain.

The court, while admitting the PIL, further observed that sometimes the attacks by the monkeys have resulted in deaths of young and old. The petition seeks to keep the monkeys at bay through the intervention of the court, particularly in view of the fact that the civil authorities have failed to check the menace.

“The menace in Agra is caused by thousands of Rhesus Macaque (Macaca Mulatta) i.e. monkeys (more than 30,000). Furthermore, the gruesome attacks of monkeys on the foreign and domestic tourists inside the iconic Taj Mahal and Agra Fort premises are also a matter of grave concern. The monkeys particularly target women and children. This all clearly amounts to infringement of the fundamental right of ‘right to life’, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” stated Jain while talking about the PIL.

The relief sought by petitioners include establishment of rescue centres in the forest area for time bound shifting of monkeys of Agra city with due permission from the Central Zoo Authority; constitution of oversight committee of the experienced experts for proper monitoring of the establishment and maintenance of the rescue centres; scientific and safe sterilization of monkeys to control their number by using the past experiences, and time-tested models of the other states as per the advice of the committee of experts.