Summary:
Once tiger poaching is seen as crime against humanity, judiciary will work diligently to bring offenders to book. This will prove to be a deterrence for others,” said Justice Shukre.Justice Shukre, who is known to have given landmark judgements while hearing wildlife cases, said judiciary should not hesitate giving maximum conviction in wildlife crimes as it is not an ordinary crime.The daylong workshop was aimed at sensitizing judicial officers, JMFCs, assistant public prosecutors (APPs), police and forest officers. Nagpur: Justice Sunil Shukre at the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on Sunday called for looking into wildlife matters differently.Justice Shukre said, “Survival of tigers will lead to survival of people, and we are here to do justice instead of acquittal or conviction.”He was addressing the participants including members of judiciary, lawyers and forest officials at a one-day workshop on ‘Wildlife and wildlife crime’ at Sillari in Pench Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra.“We owe great debt to Mother Nature’ and it is time to repay it by safeguarding environment. The focus of the discussion was how to find solutions to the problem of certain deficiencies that take place, especially in forest offences due to remoteness of the area, unavailability of independent witness, life threatening situation etc.In his address, Justice Manish Pitale referred to the proactive role of supreme court and high courts for ensuring wildlife conservation and justice to natural entities and insisted that judicial officials should work with the same spirit.Justice Pitale suggested investigating officials and legal counsels should deliberate, discuss and find out some workable standard operating procedure to ensure proper case building, removing errors and better conviction rate.Assistant conservator of forests (ACF) Geeta Nannaware anchored the workshop. Justice Manish Pitale, and more than 65 judicial officers from Nagpur and Wardha districts participated in the workshop.At the outset, Pench field director Ravikiran Govekar discussed the significance of tiger conservation and various ways it is being done through policy interventions and enforcement of laws.Central Indian director of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) Nitin Desai sensitized the participants with various types of modus operandi poachers use to hunt wild animals.Senior counsel PK Satiyanathan discussed relevant points of CrPC and Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 applicable to seizures, arrest, evidence, collection etc.Later, range forest officers (RFOs) Pandurang Pakhle and Atul Deokar gave a presentation of anti-fishing and anti-poaching activities and various difficulties they faced while handling the situations.In an open session coordinated by forest department’s legal officer Kavita Bhongade..