Tribal woman held in City for consuming peacock meat

An off-duty Delhi Police constable raised an alarm after he found a tribal woman, who was waiting to board a train in New Delhi Railway Station, carrying peacock carcass in a sack. 

A tribal from Tripura, Ruhani (36) was arrested for consuming peacock meat in violation of the laws that bans hunting and killing of the national bird. 

The peacock is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act. However, its feathers and fat is used to treat arthritis and fetches good money.

According to the police, Ruhani, from Dharmanagar in Tripura, was found with peacock carcass on platform number 2 on June 23.  

“Constable Karam Singh spotted the woman and confronted her. He then called the control room,” said a police officer. 

She later admitted to have eaten some parts of the peacock’s claws. A team of the local police took Ruhani into custody. Ruhani did not posses a train ticket.

Ruhani was taken to New Delhi railway police station for questioning, but the investigators struggled as she does not speak or understand Hindi. 

A translator also tried, but much of her statement is not clear. The carcass was taken to Wildlife SOS in south Delhi’s Defence Colony. 

Ruhani has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Wildlife Protection Act. Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act prescribes a maximum imprisonment of six years, Rs 25,000 fine or both.

Karam, 38, is posted with the fingerprints department of the Delhi Police in Kamla Market.