Madras High Court denies anticipatory bail to estate owner in wild animals hunting case

Madras High Court denies anticipatory bail to estate owner in possession of illegal gun and hunting wild animals.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to the owner of an estate at Naduvattam in the Nilgiris district in two cases booked against him and five others for allegedly being in possession of a country made gun and hunting down wild animals.

Justice T.V. Thamilselvi dismissed the advance bail petitions filed by P.B. Sajeevan in a case booked against him by the Naduvattam Divisional Forest Ranger under the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972 and another case booked by the Gudalur police in the Nilgiris district under the Arms Act of 1959.

According to the Wild Life Offence Register (WLOR) registered by the forest department, the officials had recovered the country made gun from two individuals at the estate on April 21 and inquiries made with them revealed that they had hunted a deer and an Indian gaur using the weapon.

Since those two accused had confessed that the estate owner was aware of the possession of the gun as well as the instances of hunting, the petitioner too was arrayed as an accused in the case booked by the forest department as well as the case booked by the local police.

Pleading innocence in the anticipatory bail petition filed before the High Court, the petitioner said that he ordinarily resides in Coimbatore and makes frequent trips to Dubai for business purposes but visits the estate only occasionally. He also alleged that the confessions appeared to have been obtained under duress.