Chennai: The Madras High Court has ordered that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprised of officials from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) be formed to investigate wildlife offences.
On Friday, a division bench comprised of Justices V. Bharathidasan and N. Satish Kumar ordered the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to provide a list of officers to be included in the SIT by February 14, which must include serving police and forest officers in the rank of Superintendents of Police and DFO from their respective states.
Animal poaching, electrocution, and other unintentional deaths of elephants and other wild creatures are among the offences.
It was also directed that CBI Superintendent of Police N. Nirmala Devi be included in the team, as she has been probing various instances involving wildlife offences.
Following a slew of public interest lawsuits involving animal poaching, elephant electrocution, and other wild animal electrocution, as well as traffic and rail accidents, the Court issued the interim directive. It further ordered the Railways to ensure that no elephants are harmed by fast trains.
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