The Bombay High Court Wednesday sought the Maharashtra government's reply on a PIL, which cited the recent killing of tigress Avni and sought an SIT probe into deaths of protected animals in Maharashtra and Goa in the last 10 years.
The public interest litigation was filed by local activist Nitin Deshpande, through his lawyers Ashish Mehta and Sujay Kantawala.
The petitioner has sought that a Special Investigation Team (SIT), under the supervision of a retired judge of the Bombay High Court, be constituted to ascertain causes, and probe all incidents of unnatural deaths of Schedule-I protected animals in Maharashtra and Goa in the last 10 years.
The tigress, T1 as she was officially known, was shot dead by a sharp shooter hired by the forest authorities in Yavatmal in Maharashtra in November this year following a massive search operation launched by the forest officials.
Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act lists down various animal and bird species, and prohibits one from hunting or killing such animals.
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