Allahabad high court stays trial against 8 men in 2019 tigress-killing case

PILIBHIT: Allahabad high court has stayed trial court proceedings against eight persons from Mataina village in Pilibhit district in connection with the 2019 tigress killing case. The court said that though these men were named in the police FIR, no charges were brought against them after investigation by cops. Mataina village falls under the jurisdiction of Puranpur Kotwali police station and lies along the fringes of the core forest area of Deuria forest range in Pilibhit Tiger Reserve.The stay order was passed by the bench on March 16, the certified copy of which was received by counsel for the applicants, Madhu Ranjan Pandey, on Wednesday.These persons were among 31 named and 12 unidentified accused charged by the police, as well as the forest department, for brutally beating an adult tigress to death with long sticks and spears on July 24, 2019, near Deuria forest range.An FIR in the matter was lodged on July 25, 2019, under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty), and 392 (robbery) of the IPC, and sections 9/51, 21A, 29, 30, and 31 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. In addition, a departmental case was also registered at Deuria forest range under the Wildlife Protection Act.The police and the forest department filed separate chargesheets in the matter, and the legal proceedings are underway in the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Pilibhit.Pandey told TOI the applicants who challenged the trial court's proceedings included Desh Raj, Baccha Lal, Shiv Nath, Sanjay Kumar, Shri Vijay, Lal Chandra, Heera Lal and Swaminath Prajapati.The bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Singh noted in the order, based on Pandey's arguments, that the eight applicants were listed in the FIR, but after the investigation, no charges were brought against them. The investigation officer exonerated them, whereas the chargesheet was filed against other co-accused.The court further mentioned that the magistrate at the trial court took cognisance by virtue of an order dated June 30, 2020, without considering the chargesheet filed by the police.Pandey said that, by this order, the trial court summoned those eight accused who were already absolved in the police chargesheet. Later, non-bailable warrants were issued against them when they did not appear before the trial court, he added.It was also pleaded before the court that "under section 55 of the Wildlife Protection Act, cognisance is barred on the FIR, and the cognisance will be taken by the magistrate on the complaint filed by an authorised person".The court issued notices to the forest authorities, directing them to file their counter affidavits within six weeks from the date of the order. The court further directed that the matter be listed after the assigned time limits. The HC also ordered that, till the next date of hearing, further proceedings in the case would remain stayed.