10 from Haryana convicted of wildlife poaching, says WCCB

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 24

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has posted online a list of 35 persons convicted of poaching. Of these 10, including two women, belong to the state.

All the convicts belong to the de-notified tribes — Sansi and Bawaria. Police sources said members of both the tribes were active in poaching and stealing.

Jagdisha, his wife Bimla, Dalesingh, Ruthas, Lakumichand and Pappu, all residents of Bitna Seuri village of Panchkula were convicted by a court at Kollegala (Karnataka) for attempt to kill a tiger at the BRT Tiger Reserve. They were sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment each. Dilipo, a woman from Samalkha in Panipat district, was also convicted by a Pilibhit court, for attempt to kill a tiger at Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. She was sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment. Ranjit and Sarju of Akbarpur Barota village and Dalbeer of Samalkha in Sonepat district were convicted by a court at Amrawati in Maharashtra for illegal trade of tiger parts. Both were sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment each.

Six persons were arrested in two different cases from the state less than a fortnight ago with pangolin scales and tiger meat. Few others were convicted recently.

Ajaybir Singh Bhadana, SHO, said recently the police arrested two poachers — Bhima and Hazari from Surat Nagar in Gurgaon — and seized 58 gram dried tiger meat and fats from them.

Earlier this month, the WCCB and the CBI had arrested — Joginder (32), Subhash (31), Rajbir (35) and his brother Dalbir, all residents of Haryana — from New Delhi railway station and recovered 86 kg of pangolin scales from them.

SV Sheshadri, an Assistant Director in the WCCB, said persons from Haryana had been arrested for poaching in the past too.

Wildlife activists claimed this was only the tip of the iceberg. They maintained that poaching was rampant in the state while arrests were made in other states with the help of the WCCB.

Banwari Lal, a wildlife protection activist from Hisar, said poaching and stealing was a major source of livelihood for members of the Sansi and Banwari community, who lived in several villages of the district. He claimed that 400-500 blackbucks were poached at his native Chikunwaas village.

Vinod Karwasra, convenor of the People for Animals at Fatehabad, said poaching was going on at a large scale in Haryana, while the Wildlife Department did nothing to protect the animals. “Whenever a poacher is caught, the wildlife officials try to settle the issue outside the court rather than fighting the case at the Environment Court in Kurukshetra,” Karwasara said.

PP Bhojvaid, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), could not be contacted for his comments.