Maharashtra environment group member moves SC, says 656 forest officers assaulted over 10 years

A majority of the attacks on forest department officials mainly take place while they are removing encroachments

Citing an alarming increase in the frequency and ferocity of assaults on forest officers particularly in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, a Maharashtra-based environment group has moved the Supreme Court for solutions.

Supreme Court of India. (HT Archive)

Kishor Rithe has filed an interim application through his NGO Nature Conservation Society, Amravati, against the Centre, chief secretaries of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, district collectors of areas, where the assaults have been reported, and the directors-general of police of the three states. It requests the court to direct the Centre to ensure the protection of officers and staff of the forest departments, provide social security, ex-gratia payments, and medical treatment costs of the injured personnel. The application has also sought speedy investigations into the attacks.

The court has admitted the application.

According to data collected from territorial forest areas (11 circles), wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, and tiger reserves in Maharashtra (except Dhule and Kolhapur), 656 forest officers have been injured in assaults between 2010 and 2020. As many as 47.5% of the assaults were reported between 2017 and 2020. Twenty-four forest officers have been killed in Maharashtra over 10 years. Rithe is collecting similar data for Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

“The involvement of a large number of people, mostly encroachers and those belonging to timber mafia armed with deadly weapons, has led to serious injuries to the forest personnel on duty, many of whom have been hospitalised and are in critical condition,” the application said. It added these attacks have had a chilling impact and made it increasingly difficult to protect forests.

Rithe said a majority of the attacks on the forest department officials are mainly carried out while removing encroachments. “So, saving forest lands has been most difficult in India,” he said. “The problem is widespread in other states also with a more serious situation in MP [Madhya Pradesh].”

Nitin Kakodkar, Maharashtra’s principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), said the assaults have been reported for a long time now but there has been a surge in the recent months. “It definitely needs some redressal. Let us see what the SC [Supreme Court] has to say about this.”

On September 2, the Indian Forest Services Officers Association made a representation to Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar seeking better protection and social security for over 50,000 personnel working in remote areas.