New Delhi, November 7
A Chandigarh-based bureaucrat’s brothers have been allegedly hunting protected animals, including Schedule I animals like leopards and chinkaras (Indian gazelle), for almost 20 years.
Yadvinder Singh Pirzada and Gurlal Singh Pirzada, younger brothers of Gurnihal Singh Pirzada, a 1982-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, have been allegedly hunting and killing Schedule I animals like leopards and chinkaras (an Indian gazelle); Schedule III animals like ‘nilgai' (blue bull), wild boars, cheetals (spotted deer) and barking deer; and Schedule IV birds like partridges.
Sources say Gurbakshish Kaur, mother of the Pirzada brothers, is the sarpanch of Pirkot village in Bathinda district.
Assistant Programme Officer at Wildlife Trust of India Amlan Dutta says hunting of animals categorised under Schedule I and part two of Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act can attract the most stringent penalty.
He says Schedule I animals are the most protected ones under various wildlife laws. “The use of even a licensed weapons for wildlife crimes can attract penalty under the Arms Act,” he adds.
Sources known to the Pirzada family confirm that the brothers go hunting in forests at Ropar (Punjab), Morni Hills (Haryana) and Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh) twice a week and bring back
dead animals like leopard cubs (see the picture).
Sources in the Pirzadas’ neigbourhood say it is an open secret that the brothers go hunting around midnight and come back at dawn.
They also go to Hanumangarh in Rajasthan every winter to hunt and kill chinkaras. They prepare pickle of chinkaras’ meat and gift it to the high and mighty.
Even Gurnihal Singh Pirzada (placed under suspension) joins them on the hunt but takes care not to pose for pictures during hunting, sources add. The pictures in possession of The Tribune are those of his brothers.
PFA founder and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi, who gave copies of these pictures to The Tribune, says although hunting of animals is illegal, it is on the rise in Punjab. “I get one complaint of hunting from Punjab every day,” she says. Stringent action should be taken against these people. “All three brothers should be picked up for violating provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.”
Vice-Chairman and Senior Adviser of the Wildlife Trust of India Ashok Kumar says, “Hunting of wild animals is a heinous offence. It deserves the most stringent punishment as per the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act. Once upon a time, hunting was a royal tradition and some people have not given it up. In general, one finds that wildlife laws are not taken seriously in Punjab.”
He cited the case of Salman Khan, who has appealed against five-year imprisonment sentence by a Jodhpur court for killing a chinkara. In another case regarding the killing of a chinkara by Khan, the Rajasthan Government has appealed that his punishment of one-year imprisonment be enhanced.
He says the wildlife legislation does not spare anybody and cites the case of the Nawab of Pataudi, who allegedly shot a black buck near Jhajjar in Haryana last year. He is facing a trial in the case along with seven others. The case opened for trial yesterday in an environment court at Faridabad.
He also mentioned the case where an MLA in Uttar Pradesh had to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh for killing two spotted deer (cheetals) about five years ago.
