NEW DELHI: The tragic death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala after it was fed a pineapple stuffed with firecrackers, has goaded the Supreme Court to seek response from the Centre and 13 states including Meghalaya seeking permanent solution to such barbaric act.
The apex court sought response on a plea challenging the barbaric practices to ward off wild animals terming them as illegal and unconstitutional and violating Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
The plea, filed by an advocate, has also sought issuance of guidelines for creation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to tackle such incidents and filling up of vacancies in forest forces across the country.
Petitioner Subham Awasthi sought declaration of the practice of using barbaric means/snares/shaved sticks/explosives to ward off wild animals as illegal, unconstitutional, and violative of Articles 14, and 21 of the Constitution.
In the North East, known for human-elephants conflict, however, majority of the affected villages suggested electric fencing or human patrolling or lighting or simply driving away the big beasts.
Some people have come out with the indigenous idea of fencing the crop field or the village outskirts with elephant repellents like chilies and lemons which it distastes and avoids.
The region with a significant jumbo population, who keep on commuting to and fro nearby Bangladesh, has not heard of such cruel death recently.
Awasthi said that such practices of killing elephants with firecrackers or snarls happen due to lack of scientific involvement and awareness about animal and human conflicts and lack of information about other ways of dealing with it. Furthermore, there is an acute shortage of staff in Forest forces to effectively manage this, the petition said.
The plea said that several nations have banned or restricted the practice of usage of such barbaric means to minimise damage caused due to human-wildlife conflicts. But the fundamental rights of Indian citizens and wild animals are being violated continuously, despite reforms introduced by the legislature, it said.
The plea sought directions to Centre and state governments to make necessary amendments in the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Act, 1960 to enhance punishments for causing cruelty against animals making it more stringent as per modern times. It sought directions to the Centre and the state governments to update their forest forces with modern equipment and necessary literature required to fulfill their duties to the absolute best.
Besides Kerala, other states which are made party in the petition include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Meghalaya.
