Killing birds a crime?
Yes... killing birds is a crime...A court in western Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council has set a precedent by wielding a hitherto unused law related to wildlife crime to hand out the maximum punishment to five poachers for killing birds and lesser animals such as mongoose.
Additional sessions judge at Bijni, N.U. Ahmed, referred to the 2009 Assam Amendment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 to pronounce his judgments. It warrants at least seven years in prison, extendable to 10 years, and a minimum fine of ₹ 50,000.
The five persons, Jay Ram Ray, Shibu Ram Ray and Rohen Boro, and Somnath Kisku and Dhojen Tudu, were sentenced for poaching deer, mongoose, hare and birds inside the Manas National Park.
The last of this series of judgments against Somnath Kisku and Dhojen Tudu was delivered on June 17.
In the case of Shibu Ram Ray and Rohen Boro, the judge, while declining to let them off under the Probation of Offender section of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, said poaching had made some species extinct and called for protecting wild animals.
Forester Manik Brahma, who registered one of the three cases, expressed the hope that offenders would get the message of the power of wildlife laws.