India, March 25 -- Calling the presence of nearly 400 spotted deer in a facility designed for barely a few dozen "grave cruelty", the Supreme Court on Tuesday signalled its approval for relocating the animals from Delhi's AN Jha Deer Park to forest ranges identified by its court-appointed expert panel.

A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, hearing the long-running dispute over the translocation of deer from the Hauz Khas enclosure, said that the scale of overcrowding itself warranted urgent corrective steps in line with the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

"The capacity is probably of 34, and presently there are 400 deer in that park, which is, by itself, grave cruelty. So, we will ask the authoriti...