India, July 23 -- The Swastishri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswamy Sanstha-a Jain shrine in Kolhapur district-on Tuesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the Bombay high court order to transfer its elephant, Mahadevi, to the Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust (RKTEWT) at Jamnagar in Gujarat. The trust is an initiative of the Vantara project.

The Jain shrine, situated at Nandini village in Shirol tehsil, is over 1,300 years old and has followers from over 740 villages in Maharashtra and Karnataka. It has had elephants as part of its religious practices for centuries, and Mahadevi, aged 36, has been with it since 1992.

After a complaint from the NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) allegin...