Lakhimpur-Kheri, December 19, 2015: A poacher named Ram Kumar alias Likkha was awarded four years and six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50, 500 by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Lakhimpur Kheri Court for attempting to poach a tiger in Dudhwa National Park. The court also ordered that in the event of failure to procure the fine, imprisonment would extend by six months.
The case surfaced in February 24, 2013, when park authorities were informed about an ongoing attempt by Ram Kumar and four others to set a jaw trap (Kudka) in Melani Range, the buffer region of the Dudhwa National Park. The Forest Department arrived at the crime scene and found the poachers surrounding the jaw trap with sticks in their hands. A tiger was caught in the jaw trap that was injured and unconscious. A forest guard was able to recognise Ram Kumar. However, the convicts managed to escape. Considering that the tiger needed protection and treatment, the patrolling team stayed back. It took two and half hours to free the tiger from the trap and after being given the required treatment the tiger was released in the wild.
Ram Kumar was later arrested and booked under Sec 9 of the WLPA, 1972 –Prohibition of Hunting and Sec 26 of the Forest Act. Since the accused was not arrested on the spot of the crime, the defence counsel used various arguments to prove that the accused had nothing to do with the crime.
But the prosecution maintained that the witness in the case had seen the accused Ram Kumar under torch light and claimed that he was at the same spot where the tiger was caught in the jaw trap. The prosecution also pointed out that forest guards and rangers are specially trained and are used to recognising footfalls in the darkness. It may be considered their efficiency and special skill. And hence the statement of the witnesses cannot be refuted to which the court agreed. Further, the patrol team clarified that they had to stay behind to protect and tend to the tiger and hence did not chase the accused and his accomplices.
The prosecution even tried the argument that the accused was being implicated in the case out of previous enmity, a very popular tactic used against night patrol teams. However, it was successfully countered that nothing in the statements of the witnesses’ points towards the fact that there may have been any previous enmity.
The Prosecution then questioned the very jaw trap produced in court saying that it had no connection to the accused or the case. The court said that nonetheless, it is enough to consider that the accused had the knowledge of how to enter and exit easily the Protected Area and has the knowledge of handling jaw traps. He must be habituated in entering illegally in a Protected Area and was guilty even so.
Considering all the counters to the arguments put by the counsel of Ram Kumar, the court pronounced the punishment against the poacher. The court further observed that tigers are protected species, the numbers of which are rapidly decreasing and thus any act to affect their numbers is to be taken seriously.
Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) has been providing litigation assistance to selected cases from Dudhwa National Park since 2010. This has continued through the Litigation project, a strategic part of the Enforcement and Law Division of WTI. In spite of procedural delays very akin to the Indian Judicial system, the project has succeeded in attaining five convictions and favourable orders including several bail rejection of the convicts and accused making sure that the poachers do not use legal escape to go off lightly and are regularly challenged in court. This is the second conviction in 2015. In March 2015, another poacher Jagdish was awarded four years and six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs one lakh in a leopard poaching case.
