The Madras high court on Thursday ordered notice to the central and state governments on a plea which sought to empower police officials to also prevent wildlife crimes in the state. A division bench of justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam

Empower police to prevent wildlife crimes, says plea in HC
TNN | Sep 4, 2020, 04:05 IST
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Madurai: The Madras high court on Thursday ordered notice to the central and state governments on a plea which sought to empower police officials to also prevent wildlife crimes in the state.
A division bench of justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam ordered notice on the public interest litigation filed by K Pushpavanam, a law student from Madurai.
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The petitioner stated that though the forest officials are taking steps to prevent poaching activities in the state, they are unable to tackle the same due to lack of sufficient manpower. He stated that forest and police officials should work together in order to prevent such crimes.

Rajamanickam stated that the Supreme Court in a verdict had held that police officials are empowered to investigate and take action in incidents of wildlife crimes under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
In an attempt to tackle poaching activities, states such as Karnataka and Assam have authorised the police to take action in connection with offences under the Act. However, in Tamil Nadu only the official at the rank of forest ranger is empowered to take cognizance of the offences, due to which several offences go unnoticed.
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