Traditional hunting practice landed two Santhal men from Assam in jail after a court awarded them seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 each for killing mongooses, hares and birds inside Manas National Park in 2017.
The court of additional sessions judge, Bijni in Western Assam’s Chirang district pronounced the judgement recently, against Somnath Kisku and Dhojen Tudu, belonging to Santhal community, who still consider hunting a tradition, particularly during the post-harvest season.
Santhals have not yet been accorded the tribal status in Assam but they practice hunting like their tribal counterparts in rest of the country.
Three others—Jay Ram Ray, Shubu Ram Ray and Roben Boro—were also accorded the same punishment in two other cases registered in 2018 for poaching deers inside the national park, a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Forest personnel in Panbari Tiger Project Range in Manas, bordering Bhutan, had arrested Kisku and Tudu on February 9, 2017, while they were returning with bodies of three hares, two mongooses, one bulbul, one dove and a barbet. A sharp hunting weapon was also seized from them.
The court convicted them under section 51(1) of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 as mongoose falls under Schedule II and hares and the birds under Schedule IV animals.
“Nowadays the offence against wild animals have increased and some species of wild animals disappeared because of hunting by poachers. To protect the ecological environment, wild animals should be protected for balancing the environment,” the court said in its judgement on June 17.
Seven years of jail and fine of Rs 50,000 is the maximum punishment under Section 51 (1) of the Wildlife (Protection)/(Assam Amendment Act) 2009.
“These are three landmark judgements in Assam wildlife protection history, where conviction against those committing crime against wildlife is poor. No other wildlife case, even high profile ones involving rhino poaching was able to attract such punishment in the history of Assam,” a statement issued by forest officials in Manas said.
The judgments are perceived to sound a warning to numerous tribes in the Northeast who hunt wild animals and birds, a practice in the name of tradition rampant in some parts of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.