A contempt petition submitted by Sangeeta Dogra, an animal activist against the Maharashtra forest officials for killing a tigress in 2018 will be heard in the top Court today. The petitioner approached the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against those linked to the killing of the tigress Avni or T1.
What point Ms Dogra makes is that Avni was not a man-eater. The Supreme Court had issued notices to nine officials. The Court had also sought evidence to confirm whether the big cat was a man-eater.”They flouted orders that they shall not reward anyone who kills (the tigress),” Chief Justice SA Bobde said on February 10 while hearing a petition on the incident.
Maharashtra Principal Secretary for Forests Vikas Kharge and state Chief Wildlife Warden AK Mishra are included in the contempt notice. Avni is believed to kill at least 15 persons of the region. Avni was shot dead on November 2, 2018, following a massive hunt involving 200 paragliders, infrared cameras, and Calvin Klein fragrances. This hunt was after three months of Supreme Court order that gave authorities the permission to shoot it “at sight” if tranquilisers didn’t work.
After the massive hunt, the petitioner argued that it was not a man-eater as per the post mortem and DNA reports. The top court then decided to examine the matter.
“How does a post mortem show if an animal is a man-eater or not?” Chief Justice Bobde asked in the last hearing. Ms Dogra replied that a man-eater would have nails and hair in the intestine for six months but this tigress’s stomach was empty.
However, the killing carried out in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district by a team of forest officials and a civilian hunter named Asgar Ali is for hearing today.
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