Summary:
Sanadhya however, admitted lashing such punishment over a five-year-old girl is totally unfair and unjustified. "In Nai or Sen community, one who kills or harms birds or squirrels is subjected to the same punishment. "I was also in my childhood punished for one day as an outcast for having accidentally destroyed egg of sandpiper (Tithari) bird by community heads of our village," wildlife lover and environmentalist Vittal Sanadhya said. "Such kind of punishment by community heads on causing harm or killing birds, damaging natural resources is a social custom practiced almost by all the communities in rural area," said Sarpanch of Satur panchyat Mangilal Meghwansi, under whose jurisdiction Haripura village falls where the five-year-old girl was subjected to community heads' diktat. "The punishment is meant to teach a lesson on protection and conservation of nature and wildlife and to practice for the penance and purification from the ills likely to be caused by the sin of killing wildlife or damaging natural resources ," he added..