A sessions court in Jamnagar has rejected the bail pleas of two farmers in a lioness electrocution case. The two were arrested after the feline was reportedly electrocuted on their agricultural farm in Hansthal village of Jamnagar earlier this month.
The court of additional sessions RV Mandani rejected bail applications filed by Hussain Noyda (53) and his nephew Nazarmamad alias Nizam Noyda (38). The duo was arrested by the forest department on May 10 after the carcass of a lioness was found buried in an abandoned limestone mine in Hansthal earlier in the day.
The lioness had been roaming in that area since late April and investigation revealed that the accused had buried the big cat in the mine after she was electrocuted when she came in contact with an electric fence on Nizam’s sorghum farm.
According to the forest department, the accused also removed a radio collar that was fitted to the lioness and dumped it in Dipadiya reserved forest some five km away.
“We argued that an Asiatic lion had returned to Jamnagar district after 150 years and that the accused were responsible for its death after coming in contact with a live electric fencing. This amounted to an act of hunting and therefore, the accused didn’t deserve to be enlarged on bail,” Jaman Bhanderi, district government pleader (DGP) of Jamnagar who appeared on behalf of the forest department, said.
Forest officers privy to the investigation said that the lioness was electrocuted on or around May 3 and the carcass could be recovered only on May 10.
The forest department also argued that the two accused were not revealing the names of other persons involved in the crime and therefore, they should not be granted bail.
“The lioness weighs around 100 kilograms and logically, it is not possible for two men to load the carcass of such a heavy animal on a bullock cart. Therefore, we suspect that more people are involved in the crime but the two accused who have been held are not divulging their names,” said Arun Kumar V, deputy conservator of forests (DCF) of Devbhumi Dwarka social forestry department.
“Not only that, but the accused also exhumed the carcass from the mine to remove the radio collar from the lioness’ neck and then dumped it five kms away. This indicates that someone was guiding the accused,” he added.
Hansthal is around 100 km away from the known established lion territory of Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Junagadh. On May 11, a magisterial court in Kalavad had sent the two accused in custody of the forest department for two days, after which they were produced in the court again.
The duo had applied for bail the same day, but the magisterial court rejected it and hence, they moved the sessions court with a bail application.
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