KOLHAPUR: A local court in Sangli district has recently sentenced three persons from Madhya Pradesh, including two women, to three years imprisonment for killing peafowls within the Chandoli National Park.
Pindaibai Adbasi, 27, Sajniya Adbasi, 31, and Sarzan Adbasi, 45, who hail from Katni district in MP, were arrested on October 3 last year from 'Rignicha nala' area in the Chandoli National Park. Range forest officer B V Mane had filed a complaint against them for illegally entering the protected forest areas with intent to poach animals.
The case was filed before judicial magistrate (first class) K C Mane on November 11, 2013 and order came on January 9.
The Kolhapur division of forest department (wildlife) on Tuesday received a copy of the judgment. The court has found the three guilty of illegally entering the protected forest, possessing weapons and ammunition and poaching peafowls in the forests. Along with the jail term, the court has also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them. They have been convicted under various sections of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Forest guards were patrolling in the national park, when they found Pindaibai and Sajniya cooking meat. The two confessed that they had hunted peafowls and were cooking for its meat. Assistant Conservator of Forest S L Zure later sent the seized meat to the forensic laboratory of Dehradun for verification.
They detained the two, while Sarzan was reportedly in the core area of the forest to place a crude explosive to hunt a wild boar. Sarzan was later arrested from Miraj railway station. The forest department had seized weapons including saws, knives, traps, sulphur powder, matchbox and ammonium chloride. They submitted the evidence, along with laboratory reports and statements of accused to the court.
The 26-page court order states "inspite of searching cross-examination of the prosecution evidence, their evidence remained unshaken." N Mohan Karnat, chief conservator of forest (Wildlife division), Kolhapur region, said, "The judgment is important for us. In wildlife cases, evidence is of prime importance. In this case, officials took immediate steps to send the meat to the laboratory for further investigation, documenting where the location falls in the Chandoli national park."
