Forest department officials in West Bengal have questioned noted actor Srabanti Chatterjee after she posted images of herself posing with a chained mongoose on social media. Schedule II (Part II) of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, protects all mongoose species in India, and violating it can result in a seven-year prison sentence and a fine.
According to a forest official, on February 15, a notice was sent to Chatterjee for posting the images, ‘On at least two dates, she avoided questioning. On Monday, she appeared and was questioned. On Tuesday, she was questioned once again.’
The forest department’s Wildlife Crime Control Cell and Data Management Unit questioned Chatterjee’s makeup artist and driver on Tuesday. ‘I was doing some shooting. It was the mongoose of someone else. I just took it and held it in my hands. That is all there is to it. The mongoose’s owner has also come. We’re cooperating with the officials and helping them,’ Chatterjee said. Forest officials said that Chatterjee could be questioned again.
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