In a grubby courtroom in Manmad, a major train junction around 90 km from Nashik, a pitched battle is being fought to protect the rights of an elephant. Lakshmi has been in custody since April 14 after the Manmad police registered a complaint against the owner, alleging that he had "whipped and poked' the elephant, troubling and abusing it during a BSP rally to mark Ambedkar Jayanti. What began as a simple procession has now become a legal tussle between various government agencies. Manmad woke up to Lakshmi's existence on April 14, when the local BSP members organised a rally through the town and hired the elephant for Rs 31,000. Lakshmi, carrying a huge photograph of B R Ambedkar, was the main attraction. As the rally wound up, the Manmad police swung into action, booked owner and mahout Chottelal Brahmalal Pandey for violating sections of the state wildlife protection act, took Lakshmi into their custody and produced Pandey before magistrate D K Anbhule the next day. "We registered the case under the Wildlife Act because we saw the animal being tortured,' says Inspector Srinivas Patil of the Manmad police station. "Now we will wait for the court verdict.' Ignoring pleas from Pandey that he had brought up Lakshmi since she was a baby and had a valid licence to commercially use her in Thane, Nashik and Aurangabad region, the court fined him Rs 10 for allegedly torturing the animal. And ever since, the court has been trying to find a custodian for the elephant. First, the Yeola-Manmad forest department was directed to take charge of the elephant. On Friday, they replied in court saying that they did not have the facility to take care of an elephant. The court then turned to Nashik officials, who responded saying that the case did not come under the jurisdiction of their forest area. The court turned back to the public prosecutor and the police for their opinion. On Saturday, the public prosecutor argued in court that contempt proceedings should be initiated against all forest officials, following which the court has asked the concerned authorities to be present in court on Monday. Meanwhile at Raipur Bhadane village, on the outskirts of Manmad, four policemen stand guard, organising sugarcane for Lakshmi. But Pandey is not happy. "The police have got it all wrong,' says the UP resident. "I have brought up this elephant and was not torturing it. I will have to abandon her if this thing drags on since my relative back home is unwell. Without me, the elephant will be very unhappy.' His lawyer, Sudhakar More, has already filed an application in court demanding a medical examination of Lakshmi. In his application he has stated that his client's elephant has already lost weight and is not eating properly. "The elephant is in Manmad police custody and they are unable to provide enough food for her. If the elephant is not fed sufficient quantities of food, the chances of it going berserk are high.' The medical application has created another stir with no vet being available in the region to examine the animal. Depending on court directions, officials are looking at bringing in qualified vets from Nagpur if required.