CHENNAI: The State Forest Department has let off the accused in a wild elephant chasing case inside Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) with a punishment of Rs 1 lakh.
Mithun, a resident of Kottur and an AIADMK office-bearer, allegedly trespassed deep into the core area of the ATR in Pollachi, on Thursday night, harassed and chased a young wild elephant.
He recorded the act on his phone and posted it as an Instagram reel. Environmentalists raised an alarm and as the video went viral on social media, Mithun was summoned by ATR officials and an inquiry was launched.
Sources told TNIE that local officials initially planned to let off Mithun with a paltry fine of Rs 10,000 but when the matter reached Chief Wildlife Warden Srinivas R Reddy and Environment Secretary Supriya Sahu, pressure mounted for harsher punishment.
During the inquiry, Mithun reportedly claimed that he or his relatives owned farmland near Navamalai and had the right of way. Reddy told TNIE: "Even if he owns a farmland that will not give him the right to chase a wild elephant. He should have stopped and waited for the elephant to move away. We gave him a stern warning."
The incident happened in Navamalai, which is a core tiger reserve area and out of bounds for the general public or tourists, except for people using EB quarters and a handful of people using the farmlands. A local staff in the ATR told TNIE Mithun, that his friends and a few individuals who claim to be wildlife photographers often venture into forests late in the night claiming they know senior forest department officials.
Wildlife activists say the forest department's decision to impose just a fine of Rs 1 lakh was not enough. As per the Wildlife Protection Act, what the accused did to schedule 1 animal in a national park is called "coursing", which falls under the ambit of hunting wild animals and the penalty for this under section 51 is imprisonment for a term not less than three years and can extend to seven years with a fine not less than Rs 25,000.
In the video, the elephant could be seen running in panic as the accused kept flashing high-beam lights and chasing the animal on a speeding vehicle. "Such insensitive actions will leave a poor memory in the young elephant and can alter its natural behaviour m," a conservationist said.
