Wildlife crimes: 5 convictions given in less than 7 months by Alipurduar court
‘Cases related to wildlife crime often fizzle out because of procedural lapses’
KOLKATA: At a time when conviction rate in wildlife crime cases in the country is as low as 1.5 per cent, the Alipurduar court in Bengal stands out with 5 convictions in less than seven months in this calendar year. The Jaldapara division of the state Forest department alone has witnessed 27 conviction cases from 2005 till date.
“Cases related to wildlife crime often fizzle out because of some procedural lapses on the part of the investigating agency in representing the case before the court of law and not because of lack of merit in the same. So an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) regarding representation of wildlife crime cases before the court is of utmost importance for a watertight case,” Debal Roy, state Chief Wildlife Warden said at the inaugural session of a weeklong workshop on ‘Demonstrating SOPs to combat illegal wildlife trade & strengthening wildlife forensic capabilities in India’, organised by Zoological Survey of India ( ZSI) Kolkata.
He regretted the fact that greed among a section of the affluent class who finds pleasure in displaying articles like tiger skin, rhino horn, ivory in their drawing room or keeping animals like chimpanzees, lories etc in private zoos is a driver in wildlife crime. “There have been instances when people keep such animal parts guided by superstitions which is really unfortunate particularly in an era when knowledge is available in your mobile phone,” he added.
Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop advocate Samir Majumder who deals with cases of illegal wildlife trade associated with the Bengal Forest department referred to a latest case of conviction by Alipurduar court in July first week when a person who was caught with three Indian cobra was sentenced to five years imprisonment and Rs 10000 as fine. The arrest was made in the last week of April and chargesheet was submitted within 15 days.
Two publications related to wildlife SOPS and the field guide for sample, collection, preservation and storage translated into Hindi, English and Bengali were released during the opening ceremony.
ZSI Director Dhriti Banerjee mentioned that ZSI has been supporting the law enforcement since the country conceived the Wildlife Protection Act, in 1972 and has submitted advisory for over 1000 cases among which several dozen cases have already achieved conviction.
ZSI scientist Mukesh Thakur, Coordinator of the Centre for Forensic Sciences informed that 27 participants joined the workshop from 13 different states representing over 20 different organisations. Two special participants joined the workshop from Nepal.