A tiger is killed in Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in Goa. As reports of killing reach wildlife officials they go into denial mode asking for proof rather than initiating investigations. Local journalists take pictures of the carcass which is published in newspapers. Even after that wildlife officials put the onus of getting 'concrete proof' on the journalists rather than taking congnizance of the pictures. After much media pressure investigations are initiated but vital time is lost which allows the villagers who had killed the tiger to burn the carcass. Some evidence is finally found in the form of burnt skin and sometiger parts which wildlife officials claim are from the killed tiger and samples are sent to WII Dehradun for confirmation. In the meanwhileowner of farm where the tiger parts are found is arrested by forest officials while the villagers ostracize a local who led the invetigation team to the burnt carcass. A local court releases the accused on bail since there is no evidence to even prove a tiger was killed let alone proof of the accused being involved. After being let off, the accused files a case against the forest officials for harrassment and torture in custody and bizzarely the local cops file an FIR against the forest officials. And in the final death knell to the case WII said last week that samples sent for investigation donot even belong to a tiger indicating the sample was changed before it reached them. With no evidence, no witness, investigators being harrassed it is unlikely the case will move any where. After systematically destroying the case Goa Wildlife officials have decided to form a board which will study the WII report and might advise future course of actoin which might as well be shutting the case for good.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Goa forest officials continue flip flop - Tiger killing Case set for quiet burial
An old saying in Hindi translated roughly means , You need to lie a 100 times to cover up one lie. This in essence sums up investigations into unforunate case of a tiger killed in Goa in March this year. After trying to hush up the incident from the very beggining, Goa Forest officials now are just waiting to close the case. Perhaps the case should also rest in peace like the soul of the dead tiger. Consider the series of events:
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