Exclusive: UP Man Wants Crane Freed - "How Can Anyone Be Fine In A Cage?"

The amazing bond between Amethi's Asif Khan Gurjar and the massive bird has been the talking point on social media for months.

Arif Khan Gurjar, whose friendship with a Sarus crane has melted hearts, wants the bird to get back its freedom once its quarantine at a Uttar Pradesh zoo ends.

Speaking to NDTV, Arif said, "Once the quarantine ends, it should be freed from his cage and moved to a bird sanctuary. This is my request."

The amazing bond between the Amethi man and the massive bird has been the talking point on social media for months. Arif said that he found the bird injured in a field a year back. "I nursed it back to health. Then it went back to the forest and would visit me from time to time," he said. Arif said his home was about a kilometre from the forest area.

Visuals of the bird following Arif as he rode his scooter had drawn a flood of 'likes' on social networks. The videos, however, also alerted authorities. Sarus crane is Uttar Pradesh's state bird and it is illegal to keep it at home. Soon after the videos went viral, forest department officials took away the bird last month and charged Arif under various sections of Wildlife Protection Act.