Twelve Tiger Poachers Convicted

Allahabad, May 25:  In a landmark judgment, the Additional District Judge in a court in Allahabad today convicted 12 tiger poachers under the Wild Life Protection Act. The poachers, who belong to Katni in Madhya Pradesh, have been sentenced to 3 years rigorous imprisonment and fined a sum of Rs. 10,000. Ten of the 12 convicted were women.

Acting on information and assistance from the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), 16 people were arrested with three tiger skins and 75 kg of tigers bones by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police, in Allahabad in December 2007. A WPSI lawyer has been assisting the prosecution of this important case since 2007.

The other four people arrested in 2007 were notorious wildlife trader Shabeer Hasan Qureshi, his two sons and a relative. They are being tried in a separate case which is still under trial. Shabeer Hasan Qureshi is also the prime accused in four other wildlife cases including the January 2000 Khaga case, where 4 tiger skins, 70 leopard skins and 18,000 leopard claws were seized.

A conviction in a tiger-related court case is rare in India. In the last decade (2000 to 2009), WPSI has recorded over 882 people who have been accused in tiger cases. In the same period there have been only 11 convictions, in five court cases. This latest case in Allahabad more than doubles the number of people convicted in tiger-related cases since 2000 to 23.