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INDIA: Sansar Chand Acquitted Again

Analysis by Malini Shankar

NEW DELHI, Jun 27 2008 (IPS) - Notorious wildlife trader Sansar Chand – who according to official investigations was responsible for the death of at least 10 tigers in the Sariska Tiger Reserve in 2005 – has been acquitted by a court of law in two cases related to wildlife crime for want of evidence by the prosecution. “It seems that there are no charges from the wildlife department, who was the prosecution in charge of the case,” said Alok Kumar Aggarwal, additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) in New Delhi, “I am of the opinion to discharge him in this specific case, but the trial would go on in other wildlife cases, as per law.”

Two cases against Sansar were tried in a court of law. Sansar was acquitted by the ACMM in Tiz Hazari Court on Mar. 3, 2008 because there was ‘no evidence on record’ to prove that the house where goods were seized belonged to him. Belinda Wright of the Wildlife Protection Society of India says, “The goods were seized from Sansar Chand’s mother Manuka Devi [who has since died] in House No. 1166.”

In the second case the raid was conducted on the property of Mohammed Maqbool in New Seelampur, in Delhi on Mar. 24, 1988. Charges were dropped as “All the accused mentioned Sansar Chand in their statement, but the public prosecutor was unable to prove that the house from where the seizure was made belonged to Sansar Chand”.

On Apr. 23, 2008 Sansar was discharged in the Tiz Hazari Court by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in a third case. “The accused Omprakash and Rajesh Kumar were arrested with the seized goods. They disclosed that they were employees of Sansar Chand of Sadar Bazaar, and that Sansar was the tenant of the said house,” says Wright.

Sansar’s lawyers filed an application for the cancellation of his Non Bailable Warrant because he had been advised rest by his doctor. They filed a medical certificate to this effect and the NBW was cancelled on Feb. 14, 2001, says Belinda Wright. In 1995 an industrial tycoon who was jailed for economic offences pleaded for parole on health grounds, he was denied. The tycoon later died in custody from severe intestinal complications and bleeding. This kind of medical alibi is used more often in India today.

Sansar’s lawyers submitted a blank medical certificate from a Delhi based physician – R.P. Jindal – pleading for medical treatment and rest for the jailed Sansar on May 29, 2003.

The unfilled medical certificate was issued by R.P. Jindal – physician and surgeon – and Gun Mala Jindal – gynaecologist and obstetrician – of the Jindal Hospital in New Delhi. “I, Dr. R.P. Jindal carefully examined of the case hereby certify that Mr. Sansar Chand Saini aged 48 years, … is suffering from [blank space] and/consider that a period of absence from duty of twenty days with effect from 29.05.2003 to 17.06.2003 is absolutely necessary for treatment and rest of his health,” read the certificate. The certificate was unsigned.

Even more curious is the fact that on May 29 the following year, Sansar received a suspension of his jail sentence in a case filed by the Government Railway Police of the Indian State of Rajasthan. The unsigned, non-diagnosis could not possibly be admitted in a court of law as evidence, says a Senior Counsel in Bangalore. Sansar Chand was sentenced, however, and the case is still pending in the High Court.

Till such time that the case is closed, the case records are not public documents.

At this rate, conservationists fear that all the 45- plus cases against Sansar might fail. Who then will defend wildlife? The twin challenges of legal loopholes and the international demand for wildlife products could well decimate the remaining wildlife in India.

The forest department needs better training in investigations, and should use competent public prosecutors. “The law is fairly strong. The real need is to sensitise the players in the theatre of wildlife law enforcement. Forest officers need to be trained about new/amended provisions of law, forensic skills, and investigative skills,” says Hemant Priyadarshi, deputy inspector general of police in the Rajasthan Police Training Centre, who, in his earlier capacity as the chief of the Government Railway Police in the Rajasthan, was responsible for prosecuting Sansar successfully in 2004.

“Police officers need to be sensitised about gravity of wildlife crimes, their long-term ramifications, and the need to look at wildlife crime as a serious organised crime… most importantly to sensitise senior police officers about focussing on exposing the network and the need to secure conviction and not being content with just recoveries and arrests,” Priyadarshi stressed.

Wright endorses this view. “Unfortunately NGOs can only assist the prosecution up to a point – with information and motivation – but the actual prosecution of the case is in the hands of the Wildlife Department.”

In effect the prosecution failed to prove that Sansar masterminded possession of: one tiger skin, 17 leopard skins, 74 otter skins, and 30 kilograms of tiger bones in the first case; 1025 jackal skins, 228 cured jungle cat skins, 30 cured common fox skins, 50 cured red fox skins, 45 cured toddy cat skins, 25,800 cured snake skins, 973 uncured jackal skins, 976 uncured jungle cat skins, four uncured common fox skins, five uncured red fox skins, 19 uncured desert cat skins, one uncured tiger skin, one uncured wolf skin, five uncured leopard skins, 180 uncured wet jackal skins, and 27 uncured common fox skins in the second case; and 28 leopard skins, one lined leopard skin, one lined clouded leopard skin, one uncured tiger skin, one damaged uncured tiger cub skin, five uncured crocodile skins, six uncured jackal skins, one uncured wild hare skin and 35 uncured mongoose furs in the third case.