CBI court convicts four for electrocuting elephants in Tamil Nadu
The Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Coimbatore, which also serves as the Special Court for CBI cases, on Thursday convicted four persons in two separate cases involving the electrocution of wild elephants in Erode and Coimbatore districts.
Chief Judicial Magistrate K. Sivakumar pronounced the verdicts in cases that were transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the Forest Department following a direction from the Madras High Court.
In the first case, the court sentenced Mathappa (38) and his father Kalayya (78) to three-and-a-half years of imprisonment for causing the death of a male wild elephant in Thalavadi, within the Jeerahalli forest range in Erode district, in 2020.
The father-son duo cultivated crops such as ragi and paddy on six acres of land. They had illegally connected an iron cable fence around their farm to an overhead low-tension powerline, resulting in the electrocution of a 10-year-old tusker on December 19, 2020. The court found both guilty and imposed a fine of ₹25,000 each in addition to the prison term.
In the second case, the court sentenced Aruchamy (64) and his wife Thilagavathy of Thennamanallur near Thondamuthur in Coimbatore district to five years of imprisonment for electrocuting a male elephant within the jurisdiction of the Boluvampatti forest range in 2021.
The couple, who cultivated paddy and other crops on a little over seven acres at Semmedu, had illegally used their agricultural electricity connection to power a fence on their farm. This led to the electrocution of a 25-year-old tusker on January 5, 2021. The court also imposed a fine of ₹25,000 on each of them.
While pronouncing the judgments, the judge observed that the convicts had acted out of personal selfishness, resulting in the death of a voiceless creature. He noted that when farming is undertaken in forest areas where elephants naturally roam, it is normal for the animals to feed on nearby crops to satisfy their hunger. Therefore, the act committed by the convicts did not warrant any reduction in punishment, he observed.
Public Prosecutor V. Surendra Mohan represented the CBI in both cases.
