State vs. Salman Khan - Jodhpur, Rajasthan
State vs. Ratiram Sharma and Others - Siliguri, West Bengal
State vs. Ram Kumar and Sansar Chand - Haridwar, Uttaranchal

State vs. Salman Khan - Jodhpur, Rajasthan

In 1998, Salman Khan, a top “Bollywood” star, was arrested for allegedly hunting protected black buck while filming at Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The incident led to nation-wide outrage and the authorities filed cases against the film star.

Due to the high profile nature of the case, we asked our lawyer to observe four cases - two filed by the Police Department and one by the Forest Department against Salman Khan, and one Forest Department case against Narayan Prasad Nepalia, a veterinary surgeon who allegedly falsified a post mortem report to exonerate the star.

Regrettably, most of the non-government witnesses, including the drivers of the vehicles involved, have turned hostile and changed their testimonies. As a result, the testimony of government officials has become vitally important, especially that of the Forest Department officer who was in charge of the case when it was first investigated.

The cases are still being heard in Jodhpur.

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State vs. Ratiram Sharma and Others - Siliguri, West Bengal

In 1995, WPSI assisted in the arrest of three people for trading in rhino horns near the West Bengal town of Siliguri. A Taiwanese national among those arrested was allegedly the main trader and had promised to procure more horns.

WPSI’s lawyer has been attending case hearings and liasing with the prosecution team. The case is important to conservation efforts because a conviction would put one of the largest suspected traders of illegal wildlife goods in jail.

The case continues in Siliguri.

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State vs. Ram Kumar and Sansar Chand - Haridwar, Uttaranchal

In 1995, the Forest Department of what is now the State of Uttaranchal, then part of Uttar Pradesh, arrested Ram Kumar with a leopard skin. On interrogation, he revealed that he had procured the skin for Sansar Chand, India’s most notorious trader in illegal wildlife goods. Sansar’s New Delhi house was raided and another skin was seized. Consequently, he was named as a co-accused with Ram Kumar and his presence is required in the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court, in Haridwar, Uttaranchal.

Sansar Chand has been named as the main buyer of wildlife articles in numerous cases throughout India and was convicted in a 1976 case. He was first arrested for a wildlife case in 1974, when he was about sixteen years old. There are now about eight cases pending against him in the Delhi courts alone, all involving highly endangered animals such as tigers and leopards. Skins seized from his residence over the years include a large number of protected species such as jackals, otters, crocodiles and snakes. It is believed that Chand is the mastermind of a large network of wildlife criminals, and a conduit for transporting products to international buyers.

The testimony of an ex-Ranger who was part of the original raiding party is particularly important in the Uttaranchal case. WPSI pays his bills for traveling from Meerut, in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, to Haridwar to give evidence (the government does not pay travel allowances for attending court hearings, even to serving officers).

In July 2003, the court issued a second non-bailable warrant for Sansar Chand, who has so far not been arrested in this case. WPSI wrote to the Commissioner and Joint Commissioner of Police in Delhi asking them to ensure that Sansar was produced in Haridwar. As a result, Sansar Chand has to compulsorily attend hearings in Haridwar or face another non-bailable warrant.

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