Indian Court Tells Zoo to Change 'Blasphemous' Names of Lions, Sparks Outrage

FILE - A lioness yawns as she stands beside a lion at Delhi Zoo, in New Delhi, India, June 28, 2002. A zoo in India has sparked a religious controversy by keeping lioness Sita, named after a Hindu goddess, and lion Akbar, a 16-century Muslim emperor, in the same enclosure.

The naming of two lions in India – one after a Hindu goddess – and the other after a 16-century Muslim emperor, is causing an uproar and sparking concerns about the rising trend of religious intolerance by hard-line Hindu groups there.