'Peahen gets pregnant by drinking peacock tears', says Raj HC judge who wants cow as national animal

JAIPUR: A Rajasthan High Court judge, who recommended that the cow be declared the national animal, on Thursday said peacocks don't mate peahens but sire offsprings with their tears. Presenting this unique theory he described both the species as "pious". “Peacock too has his qualities. He is a life-long brahmachari (celibate). He does not indulge in sex with peahen. The peahen gives birth after it gets impregnated with the tears of the peacock. A peacock or a peahen is then born... Lord Krishna used peacock’s feather for celibacy of the bird,” Judge Mahesh Chandra Sharma told reporters on Wednesday. His contention sparked reactions in the social media with one of the users tweeting, “Peahen attacks peacock after he tells her, ‘Pushpa, I hate tears’.” Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote: “Cow intakes oxygen, emits oxygen. Peacock is a brahmachari. Some wise words from Judge saab. Must correct our textbooks ASAP.”

Cow intakes oxygen, emits oxygen. Peacock is a brahmachari. Some wise words from Judge saab. Must correct our textbooks ASAP. https://t.co/XHmR1iFqEX

— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) May 31, 2017

Earlier, Justice Sharma "suggested" through an order on his last day in office that the government is expected to declare the cow as "national animal". The state's chief secretary and advocate-general should be legal guardians of the cow, said the single-judge bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma. "It is expected from the government that it should declare cow as national animal," the judge said in a 139-page order. Now, the tiger is the national animal. The judge, who retired today, later told reporters: "It was a suggestion because it was the voice of my soul. We could not give directions because the Union of India was not party to the case." The judge added that he was sure the government would work on his suggestion. In television interviews, he claimed that peafowl do not have sex. Sharma passed the order after hearing a petition on the deaths of over 100 cows last year in a government-run gaushala (cow shelter) in Jaipur. "Nepal is a Hindu nation and has declared the cow as national animal. India is predominantly an agricultural country based on animal rearing," the judge said in his order. "As per Article 48 and 51(A)(g), it is expected from the state government that they should take action to get a legal entity for cow in this country." Some lawyers said they were surprised. "There is no window in our Constitution to cite a religious reason to impose a ban on cow slaughter," Gunjan Singh, a lawyer with the New Delhi-based Human Rights Law Network, said. "And in any case, Nepal now has a new Constitution and is a secular democracy." Arvind Datar, a senior advocate practising in the Supreme Court, said: "It is not the function of the judiciary to make such a recommendation." On the other claims by the judge, Datar declined to comment but said it was important to recall that "Article 51(A)(h) of our Constitution requires us to develop a scientific temper". (With PTI inputs)