Guwahati, Nov 20: With objective to facilitate sustainable synergy in combating wildlife crime, a workshop on “wildlife crime scenarios and its various dimensions” in Morigaon district on Sunday for judicial, forest and police officials.
The workshop was organised by Aaranyak in association with the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) of Morigaon and Morigaon Police in the conference hall of office of Morigaon SP office.
Judicial officers from District Legal Services Authority of Morigaon district including the District and Sessions Judge, Chief Judicial Magistrate, the District Commissioner, Superintendent of Police (SP), Additional SP and other senior police officials including all the Officer In Charges of police stations in Morigaon district, three forest Range Officers of the district including the Range Officer of Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary participated in the workshop along with seven forester and forest guards.
The SP Morigaon Hemanta Das welcoming the participants, explained objective of the high-profile workshop.
District and Sessions Judge of Morigaon, Nayan Shankar Baruah explained in detail the procedure to be followed by the investigating officers while conducting investigation into wildlife crimes under the provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act.
Baruah in his address explained fine points regarding submission of wildlife crime offence report, complaint petition etc., before the court of law in addition to due importance that is required to be given in preparing a seizure list.
The Secretary General and CEO of Aaranyak Bibhab Kumar Talukdar who is also the Chair of Asian Rhino Specialidt Group of Species Survival Commission of IUCN and Senior Advisor to International Rhino Foundation, presented an overall wildlife conservation scenarios on global as well as local perspective emphasizing on sustained synergy among all agencies concerned in combating burgeoning wildlife crime to help conservation efforts across the globe.
Lauding the achievement of ‘zero rhino poaching’ in Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district since 2014, Talukdar said it has been possible because of tremendous coordination among officials of the police, forest civil administration in the district. He stressed the need to continue the existing team spirit in Morigaon district to secure the future of rhinos in Pobitora WLS
The District Commissioner of Morigaon , Devashish Sharma commended the substantive workshop on wildlife crime and its various dimensions. He said the enlightening workshop was in tune with the efforts for bringing about convergence among various government departments to boost administrative delivery system.
Additional Superintendent of Police, Dhrubajyoti Nath who was earlier holding the post of Additional SP of the Special Task Force (STF) in Kaziranga, shared his practical experiences in tackling wildlife crime for the benefit of the participants.
The workshop was marked by an engrossing session on sharing of experiences and challenges faced by police and forest officials in investigating wildlife crime cases and they were advised and guided by the District and Sessions Judge on case-to-case basis.
The SP of Morigaon hoped that the workshop would go a long way in enlightening the investigating officers from both Forest and Police department in following the proper procedure in carrying out systematic investigation into wildlife crimes to facilitate better conviction of the accused.
He also appreciated the CEO of Aaranyak Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar for giving a real picture of alarming wildlife crime scenarios across the globe and expressed gratitude to all judicial officers for their presence in the workshop.