(IN): 16 poachers get 5-yr jail for killing Gir lions

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16 poachers get 5-yr jail for killing Gir lions

27 Feb 2009, 0338 hrs IST, TNN

 

 

AHMEDADAD: In a landmark judgment in any wildlife poaching case in the

country, a tribal gang of 16 from Katni in Madhya Pradesh was sentenced to

five years’ rigorous imprisonment for killing Asiatic lions of Gir by a

Bhavnagar court.

 

Chief metropolitan magistrate, Bhavnagar, pronounced the case as a criminal

conspiracy punishable under the Indian Penal Code besides the Wildlife

Protection Act on Thursday. Prabhakar Keshav Gajakosh, the main accused and

the rest, who are already in jail in an earlier Gir lion poaching case under

wildlife laws, will now concurrently serve both the sentences with a fine of

Rs 2,000. This is the highest term in any poaching incident across the

country.

 

Carcasses of two lions were found buried in a private farm in Bhanderiya

village of Jesar taluka, Bhavnagar district, with bones and claws missing,

leading to suspicions of a poaching gang operating in Gir. Before that, five

lions had been killed under mysterious circumstances in Gir forest in

Junagadh. The accused who belong to Beliya tribe of MP were nabbed with

spears and traps.

 

Chief metropolitan magistrate AI Shaikh convicted the accused under Section

429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc., of any value or any animal

of the value of Rs 50) and 120 (B) (Punishment of criminal conspiracy) of

IPC besides wildlife protection laws.

 

The court also directed the jail authorities to take care of the 15 children

who were with the 16 accused. The court directed the authorities to take

care of the upbringing of the children and also their education and report

it back to the court.

 

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