Gujarat: Six held for illegal lion show in Gir

The accused were detained by the staff of Junagadh forest division on Sunday while they were watching and harassing an Asiatic lion on the bank of the Hiran river in Mandor village on Sunday. Revenue areas are not considered part of the wildlife sanctuary.

SIX Persons, including a juvenile, were held by the forest department on Monday after they were allegedly caught red-handed organising an illegal lion show in revenue area Veraval taluka of Gir Somnath district.

Dushyant Vasavada, in-charge chief conservator of forests of Junagadh circle, said that five of the six accused were formally arrested on Monday and produced in a court in Veraval town.

Five of the six accused were identified as Aniruddha Nathani (30), Hiren Vaishnav (28), Milan Shukla (31), Abhishek Shukla (33), Suraj Trivedi (18) and a 17-year-old boy from Visavadar town of Junagadh district. Forest officers said that Aniruddha, Milan, Abhishek and Suraj were residents of Bhavnagar district while Vaishnav was a resident of Visavadar.

“They were caught while Vaishnav was staging an illegal lion show, and booked under sections related to the hunting of Schedule-I animal of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,” SK Berwal, deputy conservator of forests (DCF) of Junagadh forest division told The Indian Express. “We produced them before a magistrate in Veraval in the evening (Monday) with a remand application. But the court granted bail to four of the accused while Vaishnav was sent to judicial custody. We shall produce the minor before he juvenile justice board on Tuesday.”

The DCF also said that Vaishnav, who lives in Rajkot, was the prime accused as he had staged the illegal lion show. “We shall probe the trail of money paid for the show,” he added.

Berwal said that some locals had protested action by the forest department saying that the lion had been roaming in the revenue area. “But Wildlife (Protection) Act applies where wild animals range. The matter was brought to the notice of Gir Somnath district police and the police have filed a case of deterring public servants from performing their duties,” he said.

Gir forest and other protected areas spread across Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts in Saurashtra region are the only natural abode of Asiatic lions in the world. But a number of lions freely roam through revenue areas surrounding the protected forest areas.

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