(IN): Czech duo found guilty of wildlife crimes- Court to pronounce sentence on Wednesday

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*http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080909/jsp/siliguri/story_9805564.jsp

Czech duo found guilty of wildlife crimes

- Court to pronounce sentence on Wednesday OUR CORRESPONDENT* *Darjeeling,

Sept. 8:* Czech entomologist Petr Svacha and his associate Emil Kucera have

been found guilty of illegally collecting beetles, butterflies and larvae

from within Singalila National Park in the Darjeeling hills by the chief

judicial magistrate's court here.

 

Hynek Kmonicek, the Czech ambassador to India, was present in the courtroom

when the judgment was announced today.

 

However, chief judicial magistrate U.K. Nandi directed that the duo should

not be immediately taken into custody. He granted them an interim bail till

the sentence is pronounced on Wednesday.

 

Svacha, 51, is an authority in the field of entomology, or the study of

insects. He and Kucera, 52, had been arrested from a lodge at Srikhola,

about 90km from here, on June 22 by the forest ranger of Singalila, A.

Lepcha. The forest team had also recovered the insects and various tools

from them.

 

Nandi, while reading out the judgment, said the crimes against the Czechs

had been " proved beyond all reasonable doubt " .

 

The duo had been charged under Section 27 of the Wildlife Protection Act

1972 for visiting a national park without valid documents, Section 9, 29, 35

(6) for removal, trapping, capture and destroying of insects, moths larvae

etc. and Section 49 and 49 (B) that prohibit trade in wildlife articles.

 

These sections are punishable under Section 51 of the act and the penalty

ranges from three to seven years with a fine of Rs 10,000.

 

Kucera, a forester in Czech Republic, had also been booked under Section 52

of the act for abetting Svacha's crimes.

 

The court also upheld the charges brought against the duo under Section 3 of

the Biological Diversity Act 2002. It states that no person without previous

approval of the National Biodiversity Authority can obtain any biological

resources occurring in India or knowledge associated thereto for research or

for commercial utilisation or for bio-survey and bio-utilisation. The crime

carries a punishment of imprisonment up to five years with a fine extending

to Rs 10 lakh.

 

Defence counsel Taranga Pandit said: " The court has given the duo an

opportunity to make a written submission before it on the point of sentence

before Wednesday. "

 

However, Pandit did not say if the Czechs would appeal to a higher court.

 

" Let us wait till day after tomorrow (when the sentence will be

pronounced), " the lawyer said before going into a huddle with Svacha, Kucera

and the Czech ambassador, who had arrived in Darjeeling yesterday.

 

The court had deferred the judgement on September 4.

 

Utpal Kumar Nag, the assistant divisional forest officer (Wildlife 1), said:

" We were confident about the case from Day One. Being law enforcers, we have

to go with the law of the land …We are sorry for the scientist, but he had

committed a crime by not getting the required permission and documents. "

 

The case is one of the quickest to be completed in this court in recent

times. After the trial started on August 25, five witnesses had deposed

before the court.

 

 

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