26 October,2010 08:00 AM IST | | Atul Krishan
Ignorant trader lands up at animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi's house to sell a necklace made from Elephant Tusk. Is sent to jail.
Idiot!
What else would you call a man who tried selling banned ivory jewellery to India's most renowned firebrand animal rights activist.Raj Harmohinder, an elephant tusk seller, made an offer that Maneka Gandhi couldn't refuse. The former environment minister got a call on October 22 at 2 pm from Harmohinder, who introduced himself as an ivory trader and asked her whether she was interested in buying a rare ivory necklace.
Harmohinder may get three years imprisonment or fine which may
extend to Rs 25,000, or both
Delhi is the collection point for skin and other animal products that cater
to the huge demands of markets in Tibet and China
In 38 years, the prosecution has failed to secure the maximum sentence
of seven years jail against any offender under the Wildlife Act
Harmohinder, who apparently did not know that Maneka Gandhi is a former environment minister and the most prominent animal rights activist of the country, said though the original cost of the necklace was Rs 20 lakh he could offer it for just Rs 10 lakh.
The deal was fixed and Maneka called him to her 14, Ashoka Road residence at around 4:30 pm the same day.
Foolish Harmohinder did not realise even after reaching her residence that he is walking into a trap.
Maneka told MiD DAY that she was shocked when Harmohinder offered her the ivory jewellery. "He didn't know me and showed me the necklace. A senior police official who was present in mufti explained to him about me," she said.
Harmohinder was immediately detained for interrogation, in which he told the cops that he had bought the necklace from the Kucha Bagh area in Chandni Chowk. A police team was sent at the said address to arrest but police team returned empty handed.
Harmohinder told the cops that he was given Maneka's phone number by a man who lives in Vivek Vihar in east Delhi. "He had approached a man in east Delhi to buy his goods. But that guy gave him Maneka Gandhi's number instead," a senior police official said.
The officer said Harmohinder might just be a pawn and this could be bigger racket. "We are interrogating Harmohinder about his links. We will start conducting raids once we get the full information," he said.
An FIR in this regard was registered at Parliament Street police station under sections 39/49/49B/51 of the Wild Life Protection Act.
| Butcher Of India |
| 250 tigers, 2,000 leopards, 5,000 otters, 20,000 wild cats, 20,000 wild foxes. That's the number of wild animals that law enforcers have been able to count as falling prey to the deadly trade plied by Sansar Chand, 55, dubbed the Veerappan of the North. Chand, who was arrested in July 2005 and is presently serving a jail term. |
| Human Factor |
| In India, forests that once covered much of the subcontinent have been reduced to a fraction of their former area. In addition, forest fragmentation means that only half of India's remaining forests are still suitable for elephants. |
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| Jumbo Treaty |
| Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, is an international treaty with over 160 member nations. Since 1975, Asian elephants have been listed on Appendix I of CITES, which prohibits all international commercial trade in Asian elephants and Asian elephant ivory. |
| Mammoth Problem |
| The estimated 35,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants that remain in the wild are found only in isolated areas of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan; continental Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam; the Malay Peninsula; Sri Lanka; Sumatra; Borneo; and the Andaman Islands off the coast of India in the Bay of Bengal. The African elephant is much more numerous than the Asian elephant, but the species underwent a dramatic decline in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of poaching for the ivory trade. No one knows for sure, but it has been estimated that there were about 1.2 million African elephants in the late 1970s, but probably fewer than 500,000 remain today. |
