Nagpur: Justice Madan Lokur and justice Deepak Gupta at the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to grant any relief or stay the capture or shoot order issued for problem T1 tigress of Pandharkawda.
The apex court also asked for a separate petition for the seven-year-old T2, a male tiger in the same area. The mercy petitioners for five-year-old T1, Ajay Dubey of Prayatna, Bhopal, and Simarat Sandhu of Save Tiger Campaign, Delhi, had feared T2 would also be captured as per NTCA letter of September 7. Dubey said his petition against quiet moves to capture T2 is ready and will be filed soon.
Hearing the three petitions — one by city wildlife lover Dr Jerryl Banait, Earth Brigade’s Dr PV Subramaniam of Mumbai, and the mercy petition, Justice Lokur said, “We are not inclined to interfere, and authorities are bound by the order to tranquillize and capture first, and if unsuccessful, it shall be eliminated to prevent further loss of human lives.”
The hearing saw a battery of top lawyers in court. Petitioners Dr Banait and Dr Subramaniam were represented by former law and justice minister Salman Khurshid and Anand Grover, assisted by Astha Sharma and Tushar Mandlekar, while Maharashtra was represented by state’s counsel Nishant Kanteshwarkar, Kartik Shukul, Siddharth Dharmadhikari, and Abhilash Shriwas.
The petitioners had challenged Nagpur bench of Bombay high court’s decision upholding PCCF (wildlife) AK Misra’s shoot-at-sight orders issued on September 4. Besides, for the first time, a mercy petition had been filed to save tigers.
During the 40-minute hearing, counsels for petitioners argued that the tigress cannot be declared a man-eater as it never stalked humans. There should be some distinction between man-eater and humans getting killed after venturing deep into the forest to graze cattle in tiger habitat, he said. They also submitted that NTCA SOP was not followed, and identity of the animal has not been proved.
However, forest department lawyers countered the claim, saying there is enough evidence like camera trap images, DNA, pugmarks, and visual sightings. The locals enter forest as they have nistar rights under Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006, they clarified. They also argued that of the 13 human kills in last two years, nine have been attributed to T1.
All the three kills last month were by T1, and T2 was 7km away from the spot. “The high court too was satisfied with the evidence submitted by the department, and upheld the order,” they submitted.
They argued that the PCCF order states that all attempts will be made to capture the tigress and cubs, and shooting will be the last resort. Hence, the apex court upheld the high court decision.
The petitioners also opposed hiring private hunter Nawab Shafat Ali Khan, when the department has already hired police shooters. The court again reminded that the forest department would be bound by the order to first try and capture the tiger, and only eliminate if all attempts fail.
Other experts too have deplored the decision to rope in Khan. Well-known conservationist Kishor Rithe said, “We are spending lakhs on capacity-building of forest staff, and this is the time when we should test their mettle. Instead of giving them opportunity, hiring outside shooters doesn’t bode well.”
Yavatmal honorary wildlife warden Ramzan Virani too opposed hiring Khan. “Without showing confidence in our own men, a private party is relied upon. Entry of Khan raises doubts about shooting T1. Had the elephants from MP been called in summer, T1 and the two cubs could have been caught alive,” he said.
PCCF AK Misra allayed all fears, saying Khan has been called as an alternative to expert Madhya Pradesh vets. “We should be prepared for all situations. We will do the best possible, and even as SC has upheld shoot order, our responsibility doesn’t end,” he said.
Meanwhile, two elephants from Pench and Kanha have arrived at the spot, and the MP vets will join them on Wednesday. The battle to capture T1 will now create conflict of interest between vets and Khan, suggested wildlife lovers.
Misra replied, “I’m monitoring the situation and will also visit the spot. There will be no clash of interest.”
