Gurgaon NGO seeks action against officials for killing leopard

An NGO, which deals with animal rights, sent notices on Monday to various Gurgaon government departments, seeking action against officials responsible for the killing of a two-and-half-year-old leopard in Mandawar village on November 24, 2016.

An NGO, which deals with animal rights, sent notices on Monday to various Gurgaon government departments, seeking action against officials responsible for the killing of a two-and-half-year-old leopard in Mandawar village on November 24, 2016.

On November 24, 2016, a leopard was beaten to death by villagers of Mandawar in the presence of wildlife and police officers after a hunt spanning over three hours. (HT File)

The NGO sent the notice to the Union ministry of environment and forest, Gurgaon deputy commissioner, Gurgaon police and the forest and the wildlife departments of Haryana under Section 55 of the Wildlife Protection Act (1972). The notice stipulates 60 days for the government to take necessary action.

The notice took a long time coming as a three months have passed since the killing of the leopard in the village, 40 kilometres from Gurgaon, the NGO said. They said no action had been taken against the villagers and officials responsible.

The big cat was beaten to death by villagers in the presence of wildlife and police officers after a hunt spanning over three hours.

“We will move court on this matter citing violation of section 9 with 2 (15), 2(16 b, c), 2(35), Section 51 and 52 of Wildlife Protection Act (1972),” Amit Chaudhary, president, People For Animals -Gurgaon, said.

“A sequence of events on the day led to the killing of the leopard and no one took responsibility for it. Because of negligence of the wildlife department and the Gurgaon administration, as many as 10 leopard deaths were reported from the region between 2014 and 2016 and yet, no legal action has been taken by the civic bodies to curb such incidents,”
Chaudhary said.

“We have been taking all precautions after the November 24 incident. A report regarding the case has already been submitted to the government,” Shyam Sunder Kaushik, divisional forest officer, (wildlife), Gurgaon, said.