PILIBHIT: In the highest-ever penalty imposed by the social forestry division of Pilibhit for killing a neelgai, five poachers were fined Rs 1 lakh. They had killed a young male nilgai in Amaria.
According to range officer of social forestry Gajendra Bahadur Singh, two poachers, Nasir Khan and Nanhe Khan, of village Devrania under Amaria police station, were booked for killing a nilgai on Saturday while their three accomplices — Saleem, Virasat and NanheBaksh — of the same village are absconding. A case under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 was lodged against them.
Divisional director of social forestry Adarsh Kumar said only a fine was imposed on the poachers on Sunday as the nilgai is not a protected wild herbivore. According to him, after the poachers deposited the fine with the department, the offenders who were arrested were released.
Asked about the powers to compound any case of poaching by imposing a financial penalty, Kumar said section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 lists penalties to be imposed on wildlife criminals in cases of poaching of different wild animals in different categories.
The nilgai had been enlisted in schedule 4 in the Act. According to him, section 54 of the same Act empowers forest and social forestry officials to physically impose penalties and compound the case lodged under section 51.
