Nursery school holds monkey dance, Maneka Gandhi intervenes
A Delhi preschool recently organised a monkey dance for its students, following which Union Minister Maneka Gandhi intervened and its principal was removed. The school had advertised the event online, following which users informed Gandhi. The Rhesus Macaque monkey is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, and using it for entertainment invites a punishment of up to seven years' jail.
A high-profile nursery school in Delhi landed in soup recently for organising a monkey dance for the entertainment of its students. The Cambridge Montessori Preschool in Ashoka Niketan, Anand Vihar, apparently fetched a madari to cheer its kids, and had to pay for it by removing its principal after Union Minister Maneka Gandhi intervened. Pankaj Kumar, owner of the school, who has a franchise for Cambridge Global, told MAIL TODAY, "We are all animal lovers. I myself have pet dogs at home. But this is India and we are all not so sensitised towards laws regarding wildlife. It seems the principal didn't know it is illegal to hold monkey dance shows. After I got a call from Maneka Gandhi herself enquiring about the incident, I found out about it and removed the Principal."Apparently, the school administration gladly put up photographs of the function on its Facebook page. But animal lovers spotted the video and pictures, and wrote several criticising comments before informing Gandhi. The monkey (or Rhesus Macaque) is a Schedule II animal under the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972; and poaching, hunting, or using it for entertainment invites a punishment of imprisonment up to seven years. 