The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Centre on a petition raising alarm over an organised tiger poaching syndicate comprising smugglers, and hawala operators involved in illegal trafficking of tiger body parts outside the country and seeking an independent probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to track down this network operating across states.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai and justice K Vinod Chandran issued notice on a petition filed by lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal, who drew the court’s attention to a report submitted this June by a special investigation team (SIT) that highlighted how tigers in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh were being targeted while using the largely unmarked tiger corridors outside the protected area of the tiger reserve. The SIT even found the involvement of local tribal communities in the illegal trafficking of tiger skin, bones and trophies to Myanmar.
Bansal said, “Almost 30% of the tigers in the country are situated outside the protected zone. The SIT report is shocking as vital dispersal tiger habitats have become the prime targets of organised poaching gangs. The extent of this network clearly transcends state and international boundaries that will require a CBI probe to unearth the extent of crime.”
The court asked additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati to appear in the matter and take instructions from the Centre, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the CBI.
Bansal said that the SIT report could be a basis for the CBI to proceed with its investigation as the findings by the SIT report highlight involvement of organised gangs from the Pardhi, Baheliya, Bawariya, Van Gujjar, and Sapera communities, who systematically targeted tigers in nonprotected forests and corridors. The SIT also arrested persons from the states in North East who facilitate smuggling of these products to Myanmar, which acts as a route for further transfer to South East Asia, having high demand for tiger skin, teeth, bones and trophies.
He also revealed the legal lacuna exposed by SIT as investigations revealed that tigers are increasingly being killed outside the boundaries of protected areas, in territorial forest divisions and corridors which lack effective surveillance and protection.
The petition said, “The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, particularly Section 38V, mandates the preparation of Tiger Conservation Plans and protection of both core and buffer areas to ensure the survival of tigers and their habitats. The present revelations highlight the failure of existing mechanisms to provide such comprehensive protection, as organised poachers exploit the legal and administrative vacuum in non-reserve areas.”
The notified tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh, particularly Bandhavgarh, Kanha and Pench, form the largest contiguous tiger landscape in the country that links to Maharashtra’s Tadoba and Pench.
Maharashtra alone is home to an estimated 444 tigers, and together Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra form the heartland of India’s tiger population, the petition said, underscoring the need to address the threat to tiger corridors which remain outside the ambit of surveillance and legal safeguards. “It is in these vulnerable areas that poachers find opportunity, and it is here that the most grievous threats to tigers are unfolding,” it added.
The petition also produced news reports revealing cross-border connections and the money trail showing large financial transactions through banking channels, digital payments, and hawala operators, linking poachers with traffickers. “Unless such immediate and coordinated intervention is directed by this court, the threats posed to India’s national animal, to its ecological balance, and to the larger public interest will remain unaddressed,” Bansal said in his petition.
About the Author
