New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) A court in Uttar Pradesh has sentenced a woman to five years and three months of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs.50,000 for illegal trade in tiger body parts, an NGO said here Thursday.
Dilipo, who belongs to the Bawaria community, was Wednesday convicted and sentenced by the chief judicial magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri, R.K. Shukla, Delhi-based Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) said in a statement.
She was arrested after two kg of tiger meat and bones were seized Jan 7, 2007, from a hideout in Lakhimpur by the forest department. A leg trap, a mobile set, a device used to remove animal nails and a telephone diary were seized Jan 12 from her accomplice Kalicharan.
From Kalicharan’s interrogation it emerged that Dilipo had sold the skin of the same tiger for Rs.40,000. The prosecution was assisted by WTI advocates Rakesh Kumar Srivastava and Sanjay Kumar Rai.
‘This conviction will go a long way as a deterrent to poachers who regularly indulge in wildlife crimes and will send a strong message to the public,’ the statement quoted Ramesh Kumar Pandey, deputy director, northern region, of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, as saying.
‘The Bawarias are a nomadic community, traditionally bushmeat hunters,’ said Jose Louies, officer-in-charge of the Enforcement Assistance and Law division of the WTI.
http://www.inewsone.com/2011/04/07/woman-gets-five-year-jail-for-trading-in-tiger-parts/41818
