(IN): GJM bandh effect:Czech scientists in Darjeeling jail

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*GJM bandh effect:Czech scientists in Darjeeling jailExpress News

Service Posted

online: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 at 01:13:21

Updated: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 at 01:13:21

 

*Kolkata, July 8* The strike in the Hills has found two unlikely victims in

Petr Svacha and Emil Kucera.

 

Since June 22, the two Czech entomologists have been in Darjeeling jail

after being arrested by the forest department with several specimens of rare

and endangered insects collected from the Singalila National Park in

Darjeeling district.

 

While Svacha (51) is a biologist with the Czech Academy of Sciences, Kucera

(52) is a forestry specialist.

 

Following the closure of the government offices and courts after the strike,

no legal matter can be addressed, including their plea for bail. A petition

seeking their release and signed by over 500 scientists from India and

abroad has been submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and state Chief

Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

 

The Czech embassy officials are doing the rounds of the External Affairs

ministry in New Delhi and the Darjeeling district administration to get bail

for the duo. Czech acting consul Yan Kreuter told The Indian Express that he

had visited them in jail last Monday and found them languishing.

 

" They are kept with other detenues in a cell. The signature campaign is on

and we have spoken to the MEA officials who have promised us all possible

help. Since the courts are closed due to the strike, we wish to move them to

a functional court, maybe in Kolkata, " said Kreuter. They are genuine

scientists and have not committed any offence. It's just a misunderstanding,

he added.

 

Claiming that the offence was serious, divisional forest officer Sumita

Ghatak said:

 

" The duo was arrested from a hotel near the National Park. They possessed

Schedule-I butterflies and rare species of beetles, moths, larvae and pupae.

Collecting the Schedule-I insects from a National Park without permission is

a non-bailable offence under the Wildlife Protection Act. "

 

An entomologist seeking to collect specimens from national parks is required

to take permission from the state's chief wildlife warden and the

Delhi-based National Biodiversity Board.

 

Ghatak said, " They did not carry any permission letter. Someone found with

unauthorised possession of Schedule-I wildlife specimens entails a minimum

jail term of three years. " The forest officer, however, added that the duo

had told the forest department of their ignorance that it was a National

Park.

 

Lawyers of the Czech nationals did not prefer transferring the case to a

functional court elsewhere. " It would require procuring all the relevant

documents from the court. It would take several weeks to bring up the bail

petition in another court, " said Advocate Sheshamani Gurung.

 

The first bail petition on June 23 was rejected as the investigation was in

the preliminary stage and the offence concerned misappropriation of national

property, said Gurung.

 

The bail petition on Monday was rejected as the local court was closed. " We

spoke with the concerned magistrate today also appealed to the GJM to

consider the plight of the accused, " he added.

 

 

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