Dehradun: Personnel of the Lansdowne Forest Division found two priests associated with churches in Bijnor in UP in possession of 12 kg sambhar meat, and arrested them. They were later let off on bail. Sambhar is listed in Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act.
Both the priests work with NGO Karuna Sewa Society. Nitishmani Tripathi, divisional forest officer, said his men nabbed a vehicle after being tipped off by an informer at Kodiya check-post in Kotdwar on Wednesday. The car was being driven by Rev Fr John Francis. The informer had earlier told the foresters that the priests had 12 kg meat in their possession, but a search of the vehicle yielded only two kg of meat. The priest admitted that the rest of the meat had been offloaded at a school in Nazibabad.
The team then visited St Mary School in Nazibabad and recovered 10 kg meat from the refrigerator, reported The Times of India.
Rev Fr Anthony Linto, who had loaded the meat in the refrigerator, was also arrested. Linto said he had bought the meat from a man called Jarnail Singh, a resident of Nagina in Bijnor, UP. The forest team then managed to nab the man who had supplied the meat too.
Tripathi said, “As DFO, I have the power to lessen the punishment, using my discretionary power. I could have let them off on a heavy penalty. These men are both religious priests who are well educated and occupy places of prominence. That is why we decided to briefly arrest them before letting them out on bail. They are well educated and occupy places of prominence in society. Yet they indulge in this illegal practice.”
Under the law, those found in possession of the meat of animals listed in Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act can be sent to jail for a period of up to three years.