Story/Place - Mumbai
The two fishermen arrested on Saturday in connection with the flamingo killings near Charkop, were granted bail on Sunday and asked to report to the Charkop police station for 15 days for questioning. The accused, Yashwant and Prabhakar Bhandari, had been booked under Schedule IV, annex 26 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and were produced by sub-inspector Gopal Bhosale of the Charkop police station at the holiday court in Bandra under Metropolitan Magistrate Joshi.
“Since they are first-time offenders and it is a bailable offence, they were granted conditional bail,” said Bhosale. Flamingos are protected under Schedule IV, Annex 26 of the WPA, 1972, and the sections under which the two suspects are booked are 39 and 51.
Senior police inspector R J Bandekar confirmed that Yashwant possessed a licence for his double-barrel rifle used to kill the flamingos. “It was a sports rifle and Yashwant said he had never used it before. We are trying to ascertain if it is true and are collecting more evidence besides the pictures clicked by a photographer who witnessed the incident,” he said.
fish caught in the nets set up by the fishermen. He didn’t even have a hunting licence. He claims that the flamingos were killed by accident. We are investigating all the possibilities,” said an officer.
The maximum punishment for the offence is three years in jail or a fine of Rs 21,000 or both. The mangroves near Charkop, where the incident took place, line the banks of the Gorai creek. Though the area is home to many bird species, it is not monitored by the forest department. Also, there are no specific monitoring plans for flamingos, which are migrant birds visiting the city for only two to three months a year.


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