25 May 2010

Allahabad: In a landmark judgment, Additional District Judge Hon. Satyanarayan Agnihotri convicted 12 tiger poachers under the Wildlife Protection Act in an Allahabad court today. The poachers, who belong to Katni in Madhya Pradesh, have been sentenced to 3 years rigorous imprisonment and have been fined a sum of rupees 10,000. Ten of the twelve convicted were women.

Sixteen people were arrested in Allahabad in December 2007 when the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police, with the assistance of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), seized three tiger skins and seventy five kilos of Tiger bones.

The other four arrested in 2007 include notorious wildlife trader Shabeer Hasan Qureshi, his two sons and their 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 WPSI lawyer has regularly assisted the prosecution in this case since 2007.