IAS breaks law, his illness bails him out

Naga CM, Assam CM give a clean chit
News Courtesy - Indian Express

Sonu Jain
New Delhi, December 1, 2001: In a travesty of the law, an IAS officer of Secretary rank in Assam has been cleared of criminal charges in a case of hunting in a reserved forest, on the ground that he is suffering from ''cancer''. He had the Chief Minister of Nagaland, S C Jamir, pleading his case and his Assam counterpart, Tarun Gogoi, gave in.

Gogoi withdrew the case against Vihielie Sekhose, Secretary, Art and Culture, Assam, who was charged under the Wildlife Protection Act and the Arms Act. Gogoi accepted the plea that the officer, who is a Naga, was ''sick''.

On February 12 last year, Sekhose and five others had been arrested after being allegedly caught with monkey and bird skins in Deopahar Reserved Forest in Golaghat district of Assam. The hunting party was reportedly carrying ammunition and using two official vehicles allotted to the Secretary.

Villagers had first apprehended the hunting party after hearing gunshots. Officials of the Eastern Wildlife Division had rushed to the spot and a forester, Rajiv Bora, was almost run over by their cars and had to be admitted to hospital. Sekhose was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

The Government of Assam has now - in a letter dated November 3 - informed the Chief Conservator of Forest about the government decision and asked him to take necessary steps. ''This is a government decision which has been reached after the Nagaland CM wrote to our CM saying that he is suffering from cancer,'' said Assam's forest secretary B B Hagjer.

Wildlife organisations are angry. ''We will put up a fight and if nothing happens, we might go for a PIL,'' said Bibhab Talukdar, who heads Aranyak Nature Club in Guwahati. ''We are shocked. If big people are set free like this, it will be a very bad precedent,'' said Aniruddha Mookerjee of Wildlife India Trust, who had even sent a letter to the Prime Minister asking for maximum punishment for Sekhose when the incident had come to light.

Although the animals allegedly killed did not include any from Schedule I, 167 rounds of ammunition and three .22 rifles had been seized from the hunting party in the reserved forest which also serves as a buffer zone for Kaziranga National Park. Sekhose's plea for his official vehicles to be returned had been turned down by the lower court but the high court restored his vehicles to him.

Sekhose was 55 years old at the time of his arrest and won't be entitled to pension if convicted in such a case. The Union Ministry for Environment and Forest has not been consulted on the issue. ''The Assam government has not consulted us and we will now look into the matter,'' said S C Sharma, Additional Director General of Forests.