Bengaluru: Kannada actor and BJP Rajya Sabha member Jaggesh has moved the Karnataka High Court challenging the notice issued by the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bengaluru in relation to Tiger claw pendant issue. Though the petition was filed on Thursday, it is yet to come up for hearing.
The petition has challenged the October 25, 2023 notice issued by the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Mobile Forest Squad, Bengaluru. It was stated that a false and misleading propaganda was launched against the actor stating that he had violated the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 by wearing a tiger claw pendant. The petition said that the propaganda was spread on the basis of an interview given by him some time back.
The petition further stated the actor had given an explanation on October 24, 2023 itself that all the news about the tiger claw is false. “On October 25, 2023, five officers including DCF and ACF of Mobile Forest Squad visited the petitioner's house in Malleshwaram and conducted an illegal and unauthorized search and seizure. The officers conducting the said search and seizure confronted the petitioner about the pendant and asked him to sign a statement,” the petition said, also alleging that the officers who conducted the search and seizure ransacked the entire house and left the premises.
The petition claimed that the forest department had issued a notice to the actor under the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, asking him to appear before the authority and produce the pendant before them. “Even before the ink had dried on that notice the search and seizure in question was conducted. The conduct of the search and seizure is illegal and motivated on the face of it. Therefore, the said search and seizure violates the fundamental rights of the petitioner enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” the petition said.
Published 27 October 2023, 13:36 IST