NOTICE TO THE CHIEF WILDLIFE WARDEN, MAHARASHTRA under section 55 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Kind attention ;
1. CWLW / DFO / SHO concerned.

Nagpur: After the shocking incident of 40 stray dogs being poisoned and killed at the Government Mental Hospital, yet another case involving animals has come to light in the city. Under the guise of imbibing love for animals in students and teaching them anatomy, the Mahatma Gandhi Centennial Sindhu High School in Jaripatka has been maintaining several animals in cages and calls it a ‘zoo’.

What’s worse, the school’s management has been charging students an annual fee of Rs 75 from students of class V to X in english medium and class I to X in Hindi medium and Rs 25 from students of class I to IV in English primary section as ‘zoo’ management fees.

An aggrieved parent, Pramod Bhagchandani, had filed a complaint in this regard with the People For Animals, an NGO few days back. Two members of PFA Pratiksha Gupta and Nitesh Sehta, who are also national members of Human and Information Rights Association (HIRA), took note of the complaint and brought it to the notice of forest department. When TOI visited the school, we found two monkeys, three dogs, several geese, pigeons and few rabbits held captive in cages within the school premises. The school, allegedly, also had horses but were not to be seen during the visit. When confronted, school’s principal Deepak Bajaj said, “My father had bought these animals way back in 1985 with due permission from the licensing authority in Mumbai. Ours is one of the few schools, which were permitted to house these animals.” He denied charges of any cruelty to animals and said, “We take utmost care of the animals. We have appointed three caretakers. Two vets visit the animals. The dogs have been kept for security reasons and are let free once students leave. Remaining animals remain in cages and are fed well and taken good care of. We do not have any malicious intention and are not causing them any harm.” When asked to furnish original papers showing permission to house the animals in school premises and charge fees for the same, Bajaj sought two days time and said, “I will have to search for the file. Please give me some time.” Instead, he showed a xerox of a paper, alphabets of which could not be read clearly. The paper furnished by Bajaj did not have any license number nor did it carry any sign or stamp of local authorities from the forest department. When asked for original of the same xerox sheet, he again sought time. Thus, Bajaj’s role in the matter remains under doubt. Bajaj, instead, alleged that Bhagchandani was a dubious character who was deliberately trying to malign the school’s image by filing such misleading complaints. He failed to give any satisfactory answer as to why the school did not file a counter complaint against Bhagchandani. Bhagchandani defended himself saying, “I am the only parent who has raised my voice. Others don’t want to speak up. Naturally, I will be at the receiving end.” Members of HIRA alleged that the officials of the forest department were not co-operating and deliberately going slow. Though officials of the forest department admitted that they have registered a panchnama, they are yet to take any action in this regard. When contacted, Avinash Anjikar, an officer from the forest department office near Zero Mile admitted that the panchnama has been filed but said that further investigation in to the matter will take time as the officials are busy due to winter assembly. Range Forest Officer Tekade informed that the school had submitted some papers in this regard late on Wednesday evening. “We have taken pictures of the animals. While some are domestic and allowed, monkeys are wild. We need to investigate the matter in depth.”

Kundan Hate, regional Tiger Cell member informed, “We have a list of organisations which have been given permission to house animals in the state but this school does not appear in the list. Only rescue centers, orphanages and mini zoos are permitted to house animals. They have to seek permission from Central Zoo Authority under the ministry of Environment and Science. Of the list of animals, only monkeys are not allowed while rest are domestic. The forest department is authorised to take action only for wild scheduled animals.”

Kind attention :

* The Commissioner of Police, Nagpur.
* The SHO, Police Station, Jaripatka.

Kindly refer to the Times of India report, which is self explanatory. Mahatma Gandhi Centennial Sindhu High School is situated at Hemu Kalani Chowk, Jaripatka, Nagpur. As per report received by the International Organisation for Animal Protection - OIPA in India, the concerned School don't have authority to keep scheduled wild animal species in their captivity, which is the violation of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 section 39 read with 51, nor it is a Zoo, which violates section 38-H of the said legislation's. If School charges money from people to show caged animals then violates the section 38 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. All animals needs their immediate rescue and rehabilitation along with strict legal action against all offenders, hence OIPA in India requested to the Commissioner of Police, Nagpur to direct concerned SHO to lodge an FIR for the violation of the said provisions.

This complaint Number is : 12919063161468 with the Commissioner of Nagpur Police on 9-12-2010.

Naresh Kadyan,
Representative of the International Organization for Animal Protection - OIPA in India,
Chairman, People for Animals Haryana,
नरेश कादयान,
अध्यक्ष, पीपल्स फॉर एनिमल हरियाणा,
अंतरराष्ट्रीय पशु रक्षा संगठन के भारतीय प्रतिनिधि
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