New Delhi: Notorious poacher Sansar Chand
was Wednesday sentenced to six years jail term by a Delhi court in
a case relating to seizure of a leopard skin here in 1995,
saying such offence should be dealt with "iron hands".
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Digvinay
Singh also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him while awarding
the maximum jail term prescribed under the Wildlife Protection
Act.
The court said that the offences relating to wildlife
must be dealt with strict punishment to bring down poaching
incidents across the country.
The court raised concern over the rising menace of
poaching.
"Despite various steps taken by the government across
the globe, the offence relating to wildlife are refusing to
come down. In the Act, stringent punishment is provided which
is awarded time and again to contain the offence, but still
the situation does not seem to be improving," the court said.
"In my considered view, such repeated offenders need
to be dealt with iron hands, more particularly when there have
been previous convictions and involvement in other similar
offences," the judge noted.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 16:36