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Showing posts from April, 2018

What is the point of bail after conviction that too in a wildlife crime?

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What is the point of bail after conviction that too in a wildlife crime? The black buck is listed as Schedule 1 species in India's Wildlife Protection Act 1972 - highlighting its critical conservation status © Pixabay By Malini Shankar, Digital Discourse Foundation April 22 nd 2018 22 nd April every year is being marked as World Earth Day for the past two decades or so. Some would argue that it is another day for cynical lip service to causes like the Environment. The ground reality hardly ever changes despite the unparalleled reach and impact of electronic media that wires the entire world today. Indian actor Salman Khan was convicted on 4 th April 2018 for hunting and killing two black bucks back in 1998. But he secured bail barely 48 hours after conviction on 6 th April 2018. Conservationists fear that it sets a very bad precedent as it is a manifestation of the lack of political will for execution of the stringent provisions of the Wildlife Protect